Times Like These
by Cailus Sionnach
Summary: Written as the series and movie being roughly 4 years and a year after all of that; The Titans are older, but some problems stay the same. But a summer trip leaves everyone in a place to grow up and change. Or not. BB/Rae centric, bits of Rob/Star, M for adult themes and graphic violence and a ton of cursing. Arguably excessive amounts of cursing.
1. Chapter 1: Wake Up

**Teen Titans: Times Like These  
**

**Author's Notes: Soooo first Titan's fic, but not asking to go kind in the reviews, honesty rather than hostility though. Few changes to the universe, takes place after the bulk of the series, and has chunks of the DCAU and portions replaced with stuff from the comics I like more. Kinda timed it out as the first series and movie were about 4 years, and this is about a year after that. Raven/BB centric, but a good chunk of Starfire/Robin and a smattering of Kid Flash/Jinx too. Writing note: "talking" 'thinking'  
****Also I do not own Teen Titans. almost forgot that. Did actually on the original posting. **  
**Well that's long enough; as the old Ork saying goes, 'Ere we go!**

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**Chapter 1: Wake Up**

The alarm clock blared in each room, all set to seven for morning practice. Well, Robin's morning practice at least. In an almost mechanical motion, one of much repetition, the twenty-one-year old Dick Grayson hit the snooze button on the clock. He sat up carefully, making sure not to disturb Kori, who is still very blissfully ignoring her own alarm. Stretching as he stood up, Dick walked over to the mirror in the room to check for any lingering bruises from last nights patrol. He had aged well, finally reaching 5'10 two years ago and years, now decades, of hero work had filled him out into a athletic, muscular form. Which he also noticed a very large bruise on his side.

'How the hell did I miss that one?' floated through his mind as he examined it, then realized there was a similar one on the other side. As he put his hands on them to check what they were, it clicked once he noticed the positions. 'Oh...right...she was on top last night...' strayed through his mind as he smirked, beginning to throw on his work out clothes and apply the spirit gum for his mask.  
Dick didn't really need to wear the mask around the tower, at least around the other Titans, identities were exchanged after the Brotherhood fiasco to build trust. Random crazies seemed to pop up at the tower and in the tower some how, though, so he kept it on. He could almost hear Bruce every time he put the mask on.

"You never know when you could be attacked, it's better to be prepared in case someone found out who you were and attack you through your loved ones." The growl seemed to echo.

Dick looked at the bed and chuckled to himself. 'Let's see 'em try' He noted while looking at Star sleeping soundly. While she looked like a 6'4, over-bronzed, redheaded supermodel, the green glowing eyes give away that she is in fact a genuine Tamaranean alien warrior princess. Dick would almost pay to see someone try and hurt her to get to him. Almost, he would not want to explain to the police how the blood stains got everywhere, and where the body went, and why there's a burnt crater in the ground.

As Robin walked down the hall to the Tower's gym, Cyborg's alarm turned off for the third time. Vic yawned and unplugged himself from his recharge station. Metal clanked as he stepped onto the plating in his room and stretched, making an odd assortment of cracking and grinding noises. In an extremely bored manner, he tapped on panel next to his bed to check the nightly diagnostics. 'Nothing out of the ordinary, good'. Vic slightly slouched as he yawned loudly again, lumbering into the kitchen to begin his normal breakfast routine. 'Eggs, bacon, don't forget to put on Dick's coffee and be ready for him to tell me I don't need to do so as he pours his first of many cups for the day. Still don't know how Batman taught a kid to drink it black. Put out tea for Raven, a mustard for star and leave BB's disgusting shit in the fridge for him to get hours from now.' He ran over it every morning so he didn't forget anything. Cyborg wasn't quite sure if he could forget anything but it woke him up, so he kept it as a routine.

As predicted, 30 minutes later, Robin, showered post run and acrobatics routine, appeared in the common area kitchen.

"Cy, you don't have to do this every morning, c'mon man, I can work a coffee maker." he complained while pouring a large cup and then set it down on the table as he went to grab something to toast.

"I'm never too sure, Rob, I mean, there's more buttons than the birdarangs, or the damn bike even, so I don't wanna risk you getting confused." Vic replied as he lazily cooked his eggs to perfection while listening to the morning news in the background. An eyebrow raised slightly under the domino mask.

"Hell, you keep making coffee for me, I might just forget how to use it." stated Robin dryly as he sat down, putting a tablet on the table to begin checking police reports from over night, munching on his dry toast.

"Be another machine brother saved from slavery." Cyborg muttered

"...What?" crumbs fell from Robin's mouth as he looked up from the tablet, confused.

"What?" Cyborg responded, sounding almost convincingly as confused.

Raven walked into the middle of the false tension in the room, ignoring it as per usual to make her tea. The 5'6" purple haired, petite young woman held up the container for her tea, allowing herself a small smile.

"Thank you, Vic." she said softly as she began boiling the water and setting up her cup for the tea. Cyborg used the opportunity to evade any response Dick may have been thinking up.

"Mornin', Raven." He said pleasantly. Such an exchange would not have happened 2 years ago. Hell, maybe even a year ago. But with Raven's defeat of her father, and general support of her Titans family, these little moments have subtly been integrated in the tower's daily life. To a point where Robin didn't even blink as she sat down at the table with her tea steep in the cup, pulling out a large book and opening it to it's saved spot, casually stealing a piece of toast. Vic looked over at her and asked a question that she believes he purposefully asks at once a week.

"Hey, Rae, why don't you get e-books or something? Has to be lighter than lugging those books everywhere." He said with polite but calculated tones as Robin's hand reached for, but failed to find his other piece of toast.

"There's something about the feel of paper, Cy. Besides, I'm pretty sure they do not make e-books of 13th century magical texts in a dead Russian dialect." Raven flatly responded, eyes not moving from the pages and punctuating her statement with a sip of tea. "So no, we are not getting another gadget for you to set up and play with for weeks on end." She followed this with a bite of stolen toast. Cyborg and Robin grumbled for different reasons. Purpose once again uncovered, Vic sat down to dig into his now perfectly cooked food as Dick got up to make himself more toast.

The morning moved at a slow pace, nothing major happening in town, no alerts thus far and patrols didn't start cycling to afternoon, both as relaxed measure to Jump City's lowered crime rate due to a major superhero team being stationed there and due to a certain changeling's usual sleeping schedule.

Beast Boy rolled out of bed onto the floor, landing with a dull thump, then quickly leaping up, alert. Bleary eyed, the green titan examined the room, sniffed and listened around him before concluding that it was, in fact, a false mental alarm. Gar calmly grabbed his alarm clock, squinting at it in the shaded darkness. 'Wow, I'm up at 10:30.' He smiled to himself as dropped the alarm back to the cluttered night stand as he stretched all 5'8" of his lean form. He then began the daily search through the drawers for a clean uniform. Finding one, lucky day it seemed, he pulled it over his Star Wars boxers. Once he fitted his gloves on he walked out to greet the new day and far more importantly, breakfast. Beast Boy made his way to the common area, where everyone was in their usual spot. Robin still glued to the tablet in front of him at the table, scanning and swiping through various reports and notes. Cyborg was finishing up cleaning his mess in the kitchen from cooking and eating. Raven, having finished her stolen toast was reading one of her books on a couch corner, back turned away from the sun and hood up to keep her attention on the book sitting in her crossed legs, tea resting on the center table in front of the couch. Of the three, she was the first to look up in his direction, having sensed him walk in. Her face made a small twitch then her eyebrows raised slightly.

"My god, you're awake before noon." She intoned, slightly more hostile than normal. "I'm not sure whether to be impressed or terrified to look for flying pigs followed by the four horsemen." Gar chuckled rubbing the back of his head smiling warmly.

"I'm a little scared too." He rejoined. "Though I can make a flying pig if you want. Cy will have to throw me though." he tapped his chin in thought, concentrating on the idea now.

"I'm game." Cyborg's voice came from the kitchen cheerfully. Raven smirked and returned to her book as Beast boy went to the kitchen to prepare his breakfast, which he had his cooking just as down pat as Cy.

"Y'know, I still can't figure out how you eat that crap, I mean, it's shaped like meat. Flavored like meat. Why not just eat meat?" Cyborg asked, just like he did every morning.

"Because the thought of eating a thing I can possibly turn into is really damn uncomfortable." Beast Boy responded in a flat tone, as he did every morning. As the years have gone on, their debate eventually just had boiled down essentially to those two statements, resulting in a much shortened, if less entertaining routine. As Gar sat down to eat on his soy products, he looked around, still very much waking up as he did so.

"Where's Star?" he asked after it clicked that she wasn't chirping happily and floating about as per usual.

"Sleeping in." Robin replied, not even looking up from his reports. Almost at once, the other three paused their actions and looked up between each other from their currents spots in slight panic. There was really only one reason Starfire slept in and they now must prepare themselves for incredible levels of cheer.

"Good morning, friends! Is it not a fantastically glorious morning?" Starfire announced as she entered the common area. The others, Raven more so, flinched at the phrase, knowing the meaning and thus confirming the previous evenings post-mission activities for the Tower's resident couple. Star continued floating towards Robin, paused kiss him on the cheek, gaining a smile from him, before setting up her own breakfast. Mustard, hyper-sugary cereal and an unknown juice from one her home planet's many strange plants settled next to Beast Boy at the table as she sat down. He made a slight, if unnoticed, face of discomfort.

'Moments when I hate an enhanced sense of smell. Really, really hate it.' He thought as he cautiously stood up to clean off his plate, even though plenty of food remained.

"Are you okay, friend Garfield? You did not finish your meal of broken fast?" Starfire queried, cheerfulness infecting even a question of concern.

"Made too much." BB stated more quickly than he intended as he put his plate in the dishwasher. Kori returned to her meal, finding the answer satisfactory. Gar hopped over the back of the couch to plop near, but not quite next to, Raven and pick up his game controller from it's resting place on the table. Raven's eyes flickered up, catching the movement, then back down to her book, resuming her ignoring of the others presence.

"Cyyyyyborg, got a controller and a digitized race car with your name on it!" Beast Boy called out from his spot on the couch as he hijacked the TV as it went into the 360 sign on screen.

"Can't dude, got to do my weekly check up of our East crew. Make sure Roy and Garth haven't killed each other and Karen hasn't killed them." Cyborg responded as he walked over the comm station next to the TV.

"Who the hell is Karen?" Beast Boy asked as he flipped through the games collection on the screen, face screwing up in confusion.

"That's Bumblebee's name, man. We go over this every time." Cy rolled his eye waiting for the next part. BB leaned over, cocking an eye brow, wide grin on his face.

"Ohhh so it's Karen now, not Bee? Has she moved up from Sparky to Vic yet?" the changeling inquired playfully as he leaned over, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Not quite. Jealous?" Cyborg looked back at Gar, smirking.

"Shit, only of her. Tell her to get to hurry up or you're going to be taken by my lean, green goodness." Beast Boy motioned over his form with a dramatic wave. Raven rolled her eyes next him pulling her hood down over her face more so she could read better. Vic grinned, shaking his head as he started going through the ever so many comm protocols to set up a secure connection.

"I'll let her know, give her fair warnin'." He replied cheerfully. His face then fell as he watched the loading screen of the comm systems moving at a snail crawl."They had to let Batman AND Mr. Terrific set it up, couldn't be just one or the other." he muttered to no one in particular. The comm screen had a initially a floating,spinning version of the league symbol as the protocols loaded through, then the the Titan's symbol as it connected roughly five minutes after it began the process. A ringing noise went off as it connected and then the symbol blipped away, replaced by a tall, slightly muscled lean young man with a mop of red hair, wearing a bright red hoodie and domino mask. He blinked slowly, yawned then answered the call in his usual manner.

"Titans East, they threaten, we beat 'em; Speedy speaking, how may I help you today?" the redhead asked in a weary, sarcastic voice.

"Mornin' Roy. Where's Bee?" Cy peered at the screen, trying to look behind Speedy at the common area of the east tower. The redhead grumbled.

"Mornin' Vic, Bee an' Aqua-punk had to run out, little bank robbery. Seriously, people here have no sense of common courtesy." As he finished, Speedy cleaned his ear with his pinky, flicking whatever he found away without looking.

"So I noticed." Vic dryly replied as he raised an eyebrow. Roy yawned again.

"Other than that, nothin' to report, oh fearless cybernetic black one. Big shots seem to be avoiding Steel City and keep goin' either south to Gotham, north to Metropolis or less south to Bludhaven. Lotsa traffic to and from Bludhaven, actually. Some starters seem to be fliterin' in and coming out with either full gangs or good starters for one. Probably should ping the League if it gets worse. Bat's probably already knows though." Vic nodded with interest.

"Sounds good, seems to be the same here, bigger, not stupid, dudes keep either heading south to hassle Green Lantern in Coast or north to try and find soft spots in the port cities. Wondergirl's been keeping an eye in Seattle though and Kid Flash an' Jinx have been in Portland...so no one's really gained much a foot hold. Add in a few friends in between who've been helping out we've really had a smooth couple of months."

Roy just stared blankly at the screen, nodding when he felt it should appear he cared.

Vic sighed, then looked around the room slyly to definitely make sure no one was paying attention, then leaned in to the screen slightly. "Sooo up for another relationship bet?" he smiled, raising his eyebrows hopefully. Roy jumped a little at the change of topic, not-so-subtly looking around then leaning towards his end of the screen.

"I dunno man, still feel pretty burned about the Rob-Star thing. You really had a leg up, and that, my friend, is unfair bullshit. They were obviously a couple for years before they announced it." he glared at the half-bot on the other end of the line folding his arms in the manner of a grumpy child.

"And I quote;" Cyborg lifted his arm and pressed a button, it began playing a recording of Roy's voice.

"Never in a thousand years, man. You're on. Easiest 200 bucks I'll ever make."

"And that'll never cease to be creepy." Roy replied pointing accusingly at the screen, eye twitching slightly. "So who'd you have in mind? I figure there'd have to be a good reason for you to try and bet me again."

"I was thinking Raven and Beast Boy." Cyborg waited patiently to see if he'd take the bait. Roy folded his arms again, eyebrows furrowed and tongue rolling around in his mouth in thought.

"That's...hrm, I dunno, man...they were mingling preeetty well at the post-Brotherhood bash...and the holiday get together after that..." As if to prove him wrong, Roy watched as Beast Boy flung out of his screen view from behind Cyborg, pushed by a wreath of black energy, the 360 controller he was holding spinning in the air before landing on the couch with a delicate thump.  
**_  
Moments before:_**

Beast Boy decided to trek through the neon-filled fields of Blood Dragon, as Cy was busy. "I still don't get how you can't play these, Rae." He asked randomly with calm.

"It...really doesn't appeal, Gar. Especially this." Raven waved her hand lazily at the screen without looking up from her book. "Whatever this is. Not. My. Thing." She punctuated with increasing disdain,hand returning to book to turn a page. BB paused the game and leaned over to her, motioning to pat her lower leg.

"I'm sure I could find a game you'd li-" He stopped mid-sentence as her eyes widened slightly as he was a bit closer than both thought he should be. They looked down at the same time to realize his hand missed his mark and hit her bare upper thigh instead. They looked back up, again simultaneously, faces tinged slightly red. "-ke...ehehehe...uhm...sorry?" Beast Boy strained a smile on his face as he laughed nervously. He,incidentally, was not moving his hand. Raven glared, eyes surrounded by black energy. Then a dark smirk crossed her lips.

"Seems I get to see a flying pig sooner than I thought." She said a tad louder than necessary. BB tried to maintain the smile but winced, as many a year of bad jokes, pranks and poor luck in general had prepared him for what was next.  
_**  
Back to the now:**_

"You're on." Roy said with a devilish smirk, then cut the feed.

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_**Next time; Main bulk of the story begins with a call from The Batman.**_  
_**Yes, that The Batman.**_

**Reviews would be nice.**

Chapter title from: AWOLNATION  



	2. Chapter 2: Begining End Begining

**Author's**** Notes: **** So uh...ya'll kinda ruined a plan of mine. Initially, I was gonna publish a chapter as I finished the one after it, keep ahead of the game and what not. Well, I kinda saw the current reviews and was like "well, shit, I'm just sitting on this completed chapter, that actually starts the damn story, and not publishing it." And I felt bad, so that plans out the window and now we're at the mercy of my writing muse. Less what's going to be done because I got this sucker mostly planned but actually writing...can be a bitch. But enough of that, here's the second chapter that actually sets up what's going down for the bulk of the fic, enjoy, review, yadda yadda**

**Also, Don't own Teen Titans. Obviously.**

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**Chapter 2: The Beginning is the End is the Beginning**

Cyborg smiled his own evil smile as the line went dead.

'If he wasn't a jackass, this would make me feel bad.' He thought to himself before turning to see Beast Boy slumped against the wall, failing to shake the dizzy out of his head as Raven huffed out of the common area. 'Man, they put on a good show.' Before he could walk away from the comm station, it beeped at him. Vic turned to look at it, eyes widening a bit at the stark Bat-symbol on the screen.  
"Uhm, Robin, I think it's for you."

Robin raised an eyebrow as he carefully pried himself from Starfire's cuddling and his tablet and walked over to the screen, giving an equally startled look at the symbol. He hasn't heard from Bruce for...months. Not since Jason's...at least no more than a few words of occasional advice for missions. He tapped the symbol on the screen and was greeted with the grisly image of the Batman, as usual, unshaven, a light behind him giving a slight silhouette. Robin raised an eyebrow, forcing a smile.

"A bit early for you, isn't it?" He asked playfully.

"Late would be more appropriate." Batman growled wearily. "Riddler thought it would be fun to tie up all of city council and hide them in the districts on the opposite side of the city from their own. With riddle laden death traps of course."

This earned him a genuine smile from Dick,"Of course. Well, was it fun?"

Batman returned the smile with a slight one of his own. "Almost. Took until seven this morning to find them all. Quarter after if you include Mr. Nigma's now broken clavicle and ribs." Batman and Robin chuckled at this, earning a slightly nervous glance shared between Cy and Star, the latter shrugging.

Dick sighed slightly before asking "So, why'd you call? Riddler's health non-withstanding."  
Bruce's smile dropped as he went into business mode. "I was actually wondering if you would be up to coming out to stay in Gotham for the summer. I have some things I need to go over with you and it would give us a chance to catch up."

Dick stared at the screen. He was trying to pick the words apart in his mind, looking for the hidden meanings that Batman puts in almost every request.  
'Don't stall too long, he'll pick up on it.' Robin thought to himself quickly. "Well...we'd have to find someone to cover my spot on the team...and...uhm, well would it be too much to bring someone with me?"

"You can bring your girlfriend if you want. There's plenty of room in the house, and I'm sure Starfire would love to visit Gotham." Batman replied calmly.

Dick could not recall mentioning his dating of Star to Bruce. Ever. He had a leak on the team.

'Cyborg, he's the only one who goes up to the League. Probably didn't think of mentioning it to someone. Damn word travels too fast around the Watchtower.' Robin thought rapidly, then looked at Star. "Uhm...well, would you like to-" He didn't have a chance to finish.

"Yes, it sounds most wonderful! I have been wanting to see the city of your origins! Meeting your mentor sounds most enjoyable as well!" Kori had rapidly flown over and hugged him as she answered. And while she had gotten better, the hug was just strong enough to remind Dick of the bruises on his sides and he winced. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Batman's face barely smirk before going flat again. 'Very clever, Bruce. Very clever.' Dick thought before speaking again. "Well...That settles that. How do you want us to get out there?"

"I can take care of that; I can arrange a private jet for you two at Jump's airport, though she'll need a disguise." Batman said calmly, pointing at Starfire.

Cyborg interjected before the other two could speak "It's okay, Batman, we've actually got that covered. Everyone on the team has holographic projection rings for days off or going undercover." Batman nodded in approval, then looked at Cyborg intently.

"That reminds me, Vic. Your father passed on word that he would like you to visit him. It's been a while and he would also like to catch up with you." Batman said in his normal, flat growl.

Cy's face dropped considerably. "I...really...don't...feel up to it, Bat-" He started before being cut off.

"Victor, Dr. Stone passed word through Superman when he was visiting S.T.A.R. Labs last week. And he agreed it's about time that you visit your father. You know how Superman is about visiting fathers." Batman emphasized the last part. For once, Cy was glad it was Batman passing this along. Superman would have a small speech of the importance of spending the time you have with your family while they are here. That would go on for ten to fifteen minutes. An unknown, rarely used power of Superman's is the super-guilt trip, apparently.

"...Is there anyway that private jet of yours can drop me off in Metropolis?" Vic asked, relenting to the pressure of Batman's calm stare, shoulders dropping a little.

"I think they can manage it." Batman replied. "I'll let you organize your replacements, Robin. Contact me as soon as everything is set up, and I'll get everything finished on my end for your trip."

"Alright, talk to you then Ba-" Dick began before the feed cut off abruptly. "-stard." He finished as his face fell a little. Starfire blinked at the screen, before looking at Robin, slightly worried expression on her face.

"Does...he do that often, Boyfriend-Richard?" She asked tentatively.

"Every call." Dick sighed. He looked over at Cyborg, who actually seemed far more put out by the trip plans than him. "You okay, Vic? I know you and your dad have...issues so are you going to actually be up for the trip?"

Cy sighed sadly. "Not much of a way outta it now. It's funny...facing aliens, psychopaths, monsters...monstrous alien psychopaths, all easy. Dealing with father who's idea of saving his son is..." He tapped his metal hand to the metal part of his head. "...a bit harder it seems." He turned to walk back towards his room. "Best get ready I suppose."

Dick nodded. "I'll put in a call to Donna, Wally and Jinx. They're the closest who I think could help hold the town while we're out." Vic gave a thumbs up without turning around before exiting the common area. Dick turned and looked at Star. "You should probably get packed too, Kori, as soon as we get everything set, Bruce is going to expect me to call him that second." Dick said calmly, trying to mask the hint of irritation in his voice. Starfire tilted her head softly.

"This is not going to be a trip of much fun, yes?" She asked, worried expression returning. Dick smiled calmly.

"We can make it one. Besides, Gotham has some of the best shops in the country, which I'm sure you can have fun perusing with a damn near unlimited credit card." With that from Dick, Star almost instantly perked up.

"You shall make the calls, yes?" She asked, cheer returning to her voice. Robin nodded.

"Besides, I'm sure the three could use the change of pace." He said as he took out his communicator-phone. Kori departed with a slight bounce to their bedroom, passing the still dazed Gar on the floor. As Robin began to dial, he was interrupted as said dazed changeling stood up, once again part of the world at large. Beast Boy looked around for a second then at Robin.

"...What I miss?" He asked calmly, rubbing a sore part of his skull. Dick chuckled before giving Gar the run down. "Star and I are heading to Gotham to visit with Batman and Cyborg's going home to visit his dad. I'm gonna call in Donna, Wally and Jinx to help you and Raven watch the city." Dick could see gears turning behind BB's eyes, but not quite sure about which part his statement he was going over in his mind.

"...Okay then." Gar said as he resumed his spot on the couch to start his game back up from it's paused state, then looked back at Robin. "You mean I missed Batman calling again?!" Robin shrugged. "Goddamnit, why does that always happen when a member of the league calls?" BB grumbled as he flicked on the game.

Robin shook his head. "They probably know instinctively that you're going to harass them about Animal Man." he replied dryly as he began to dial again.

"Only a little..." Gar responded before turning back to his game.

**In Portland:  
**  
A young woman and young man sat in the outdoor section of a cafe, the man eating two doughnuts at once as his counterpart watched amused. She was a short, almost thin, Asian woman, black hair in pigtails with pink tips and wearing a slight montage of a punk get up, and various rings on her slim fingers, one of the bulkier ones she kept fiddling at slightly. Her catlike eyes watched her companion scarf his two doughnuts down before grabbing two more out of the bag. Despite his appetite, the young redheaded man was of medium build, and fairly tall, almost stretched out a little, wearing simply jeans and a yellow t-shirt with an unknown red design on it. He smiled at the woman across from him.

"I really don't see how you can't want a doughnut with bacon on it, Linda," He said, mouth half full, saying her name with a hint of playful sarcasm.  
"These things are amazing." He finished the sentence by finishing a doughnut by cramming the remaining chunk in his left hand in his mouth.

Linda put her elbows on the table, weaving her fingers together and leaning her head on her hands, quirking an eyebrow before responding just as playfully. "It was good the first time, Wally. I don't need to eat them every day for two weeks straight, let alone almost every one the store makes."

"Yeah...not sure if we can go back after this batch, they looked kinda mad." Wally said calmly before finishing the other doughnut. His eyes opened a bit slightly as he watched his pocket lit up and vibrated. He initially reached down, before staring at his sugar covered hands and then at Linda, his face pleading for assistance.

Linda, for her part, was a good sport and got up, calmly walked over and removed the communicator from his pocket then answered "Titan Jinx speaking for Kid Flash, what can I do for you, Robin?" Jinx said as she sat back down across from Wally, as he frantically fought with napkins to get the glaze off his hands, only succeeding in attaching more paper to his hands. Jinx smirked while watching him struggle with the paper.

"Hrm, really now? Well I don't see why not, it's been dead up here. Apparently harassing hippies is not high up there on the Super villain bucket list." She said, watching Wally look in both directions suspiciously before rapidly moving his hands at super-speed to remove the glaze and paper debris from his hands.

"Well, yes Luthor would do that, but that's Luthor. He's the king of capitalistic assholes. And if he's not, he tries his damnedest to kick who ever is off that hilltop. But yes, to answer your question, we'll be there in a day or so. See ya then." She said the last part cheerfully before turning off the communicator and handing it to Wally. "We're going to be staying at the Jump City Tower while Dick, Vic and Kori go on vacation for the summer."

Wally took his communicator, staring at her with a small smile, "Sooo I don't get a say in our decisions anymore?"

Jinx returned his smile "Not the important ones."

Wally gave her a thoughtful expressions while grabbing the drink in front of him, sipping from the straw until it emptied. "I'm okay with that."

**In Seattle:**

Harry had been following her for at least half a block. She was just chatting away on her phone, ignoring the world around her. Tall, brunette, pretty, wearing expensive, but simple clothes, so her purse would probably be loaded, at least with info he could sell. Harry decided to make his move as she slowed down to look at a shop window. He ran, grabbed the purse and began to run before he realized that the straps were caught on something. Harry looked back and noticed the straps were stretching out, the young woman keeping a surprisingly strong grip on it with one hand. Her face shifted from calm to one of annoyance as she swiftly pulled the purse out of his hands, throwing the bag over his head so the straps were on either side of his neck, then twisted the straps to tighten it around his neck. Harry tried to yelp as she pulled back hard, but didn't have enough time before her elbow connected with his skull, knocking him out cold.

Donna unwound the straps of the purse and removed it deftly from around the would be thief's neck, allowing him to smack into the ground dully. She put her communicator back up to her ear, stepping over the unconscious man and continuing down the street.

"I'm sorry, I missed that last part, Dick, got distracted. Oh, nothing major, it's fine. Sure, I don't mind covering for a few months. Seattle's been kinda boring actually." Donna said as she strolled down the street, waiting to see if she could fish out any other idiots from the shopping district before returning to her hotel room to pack.

**Titans Tower, Jump City:**

"And that takes care of that." Dick said as he closed the communicator up, then looked over at Beast Boy. He had noticed that the entire time he was talking to the others, BB had been moving in a simple circle in his game. It was like he wasn't thinking about the game at all. At that moment, the screen filled with a bright neon flash, and everything fizzed and faded as the character died and the game reloaded. Not a flinch from Gar.

"...You okay, man?" Dick asked as he walked over and waved his hand in front of Beast Boy.

Gar shook his head quickly, looking up at Robin, "Yeah, what's up?" he responded in a distracted manner.

"Got everything set up for the our spots on the team to be covered." Robin said, eyebrow raised as he watched his friend.

"Okay, cool."

"And you just died in your game."

"I know, it happens,dude."

Robin leaned down so he was eye level with Beast Boy. "What's eating you?"

Gar shifted uncomfortably "That obvious?"

Dick sat next to him with a plop. "I just watched you not go into a mini fit for dying in your game after walking in circles, not shooting at anything, for twenty minutes. Either your tofu's gone bad again or something is bothering the shit out of you. So, spill."

'Damn, should've remembered the tofu thing.' Gar muttered internally as he weighed his words. "Just...wondering...who's going to head up the team with you out of town?" The question formed awkwardly, as did the smile on his face.

Dick's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're lying but that's a good point so for now, you get a pass." Beast Boy exhaled the breath he had been holding.  
Dick stood up and began to leave the room, before turning back around to look at Beast Boy. "By the way, you should pass on the word to Raven. It would be a good idea to warn her about new people wandering into her personal space for a few months, give her a chance to brace herself. Also give you a chance to apologize properly for earlier."

Beast Boy practically dropped the controller from the slight jump he gave, then looked at Robin as he turned off the game. "Good idea, Rob, I'll get right on that." He was almost out of the room before Dick was. Dick just smirked and shook his head as he went towards his and Star's shared room. 'Like cellophane. No poker face at all.' Dick thought to himself.*

**Four Days Later:**

Wally had of course arrived first, sans Jinx, as he was mostly transporting their things while she took the plane. They had learned the hard way that her riding with him for extended periods was not fun. Apparently not being protected from high speeds completely is uncomfortable for the rider. Hence, planes for her, and he saved them money by running everything back and forth.

Luckily, Jinx didn't fly alone, since Donna came down from Seattle to catch the flight with her. And also take advantage of the Kid Flash Delivery Service. On a side note, Wally plans on charging outrageous fees next time this happens. Jinx and Donna got along surprisingly well, having met initially at the previous Titan gatherings briefly. They mostly traded stories on taking down various goons who underestimated female opponents and using that to their advantage. By the time they got to Jump City, Wally had everyone's belongings in the proper rooms, Jinx and his practically set up and Donna's politely left on her bed for her to arrange as she pleased.

Jinx and Donna walked in, Donna already in deep catching up conversation with Dick, who was in street clothes. Starfire gave Jinx her welcoming, rib cracking hug, also in both street clothes and with her holo-ring on, giving her a light tan look, normal, bright green eyes,and a more...human shade of red in her hair. It was enough to blend her in. Vic was by the door again, also wearing his holo-ring and in baggy, comfortable looking clothes, looking at his watch slightly impatiently in between double checking everyone's bags. Jinx looked around the room to find Wally, playing Beast Boy in Street fighter.

"Dude, no super speed!" Gar yelled as he frantically mashed the controller.

"I don't need to use speed to beat you, man, just skill!" Wally replied as his character wailed on BB's.

"Well I see you've been busy." Jinx said as she leaned over the back of the couch to hug Wally and kiss him on the cheek.

"As always." Wally's eyes didn't leave the screen as he smiled, though he could swear he see Beast Boy's face make a quick twitch of irritation. He ignored it for the moment, "You two have a nice flight?"

"Of course, a little boring but Donna can at least tell some good stories." Jinx returned his smile pleasantly, then watched the screen for a second and blinked. "Damn, Beast Boy, you're terrible at this game."

BB grumbled as his character got knocked out then slumped in his spot on the couch. "Only playing 'til everyone got here anyways." He muttered in a slightly brooding fashion while tossing the controller to the side.

Jinx raised an eyebrow at him and his reaction. She'd known Beast Boy for a long time, even if part of that time was as an adversary. She never, ever would've picked him for moody. Childish, totally, in a heartbeat. Moody? Not so much. She leaned closer to Wally and whispered in his ear, "What's up with BB?" resting her head on his shoulder as she asked

Wally turned his head to look at the grumpy changeling then his eyes moved to look a Jinx, shrugging lightly "Was fine til a minute ago." He whispered back, genuinely confused.

Jinx's cat-like eyes flickered around the room for a second, noticing that Beast Boy was trying to hide a small look of disgruntlement at Raven, who was calmly reading on the farthest edge of the couch.

'Ahhhhh, that's what it is...' Her face went into a Cheshire grin. Jinx looked back at Wally, noticing his continued look of confusion and decided to keep to herself what she figured out. He'll pick it up. Maybe. He's an odd one.

Wally noticed Jinx's grin before she could hide it from him. "What?" He whispered, always a little worried when she gets that smile.

"If you're good, I'll tell you later." Jinx replied simply, before kissing him on the cheek and pushing up off him and the back of the couch to grab a drink.

Wally sat there, now more confused. "...Women are weird."

"Tell me about it." Gar muttered.

"What?" Wally turned his head quickly at Beast Boy.

"Nothin'" Beast Boy said as fast as he could.

As Wally eyed BB suspiciously, Dick finished bringing Donna up to speed. He was trusting her with his notes, as he knew she had the most experience in doing so next to him.

"Soooo does this mean I'm in charge?" Donna said with equal hints of hopefulness and suspicion.

"Actually...as far as leading the team in the field, I was going to leave that to Beast Boy." Dick said, slightly loud to catch Gar's attention.

"Really?!" Beast Boy jumped up and turned around to lean on the back of the couch to look at Robin, any hints of a bad mood simply gone.

"I figured you deserve it, you did well during the Brotherhood fight, and you've got a knack for leading a team in stressful conditions. I'm leaving notes and research to Donna because...well that's not your strong suite." Robin said calmly.

Gar nodded, "Yeah...I mean I pay attention during team meetings but..yeah. Not good with notes." he looked down slightly then back up excitedly. "Anything I really need to know?"

"You know what to do, I'm not going to tell you how to run the team. Just don't get everyone killed and listen to the team when they have something to say. Basics. Oh and Raven's in charge of you." Robin said the last part very quickly.

Beast Boy nodded more, "Yup, okay-wait-what?!" he exclaimed as the last statement registered. A small thump of a book hitting the couch was heard as well.

Raven sat up, hood that had been down previously up to cover her face. "What does that mean? He's in charge of the field missions but I'm in charge of him?" She asked, her normal monotone peppered with annoyance.

Wally was now more confused. Jinx leaned against the fridge, drinking a soda and watching with interest, grin back on her face. Starfire couldn't resist a smile herself, but surprisingly kept quiet. Cy was busying himself with getting everything set up to leave, half paying attention. Donna simply watched, keeping her face plain save a slight smirk.

'What are you up to this time, Dick?' She wondered to herself

"It's simple, keep BB in line to make sure he doesn't use his position to prank anybody and so he doesn't go overboard on missions." Robin said as he put his hands together in what can only be described as a slightly scheming manner. He had a pleasant smile on his face,but it was hiding something. Raven's eyes narrowed, but before she said something, Beast Boy piped up first.

"So I'm in charge, unless I mess up and then Raven's in charge?" He half-whined, half-sarcastically questioned.

"Well, that's not entirely what I mea-" Robin began

"That sounds fair." Raven said with a smirk.

Robin kinda stuttered for a sec then looked at the clock on the wall. "Shit, we got to go or Bruce is going to flay me alive for keeping the plane waiting." He said quickly. Dick started walking quickly at the door, Cyborg already waiting, holding his own suitcase, looking at Robin's confused expression.

Cyborg raised an eyebrow at him, "This ain't the 1840's get you're own damn luggage."

That got Dick to crack a smile, as he grabbed his duffel bag and Star grabbed her oversized travel bag with one hand.

"Uhm, Kori, you might want to carry that two handed when we get to the airport." Dick said, eyeing her effortless grabbing of the bag.

Star looked confused, "Am I not supposed to carry my own bags of clothing and accessories?"

"Yes, but remember, low profile in front of the flight crew." Dick replied calmly.

"Oh! Of course, then I shall keep myself down on the low." Star said quickly, then proceeded to put the large bag in front of her, slumping her shoulders to indicate it's weight, before giving a slight pleading look at Robin. "Boyfriend-Richard, this is most heavy, would mind giving me assistance?"

Dick had to give her credit, she was doing very well. Also said look was melting him faster than her eye beams could melt butter. "Uhm, sure. totally." He stammered out, reaching for her bag. She handed it to him, causing Robin to go forward as the bag hit the ground with a dull thump, causing Cyborg to let out a quick laugh.

Starfire used the distraction to turn around and fly over to each of the other titans to give another round of farewell hugs.

"Please take good care of Silkie for me, Friend-Garfield."

"Not a-" Gar's air circulation momentarily cut off and his voice cracked and squeaked "-a problem, Star." He inhaled deeply when she let go.

"Friend-Raven, do keep the tradition of Time-of-girls up while I am away."

"Wouldn't dream of not-" Raven winced as she got the hug, more from the overwhelming emotions the Tamaranean gave off than the hug itself. "-missing them."

"Friend-Wallace, I hope you and Friend-Jinx enjoy your stay in the tower and city."

"I'm sure it'll be-" Wally squeaked a little as Star gave him a hug, "-fun."

"Friend-Jinx, take care of Friend-Wallace and also do not miss out on the time of girls."

"I'll do my-" Jinx also winced like Raven from the hug, though hers was less empathy related than a possible crack on a rib, "-best to keep him out of trouble."

"Friend-Donna, please keep up the warrior's spirit in my steed."

"Of course, Kori, I don't think that'll be a problem." Both girls hugged, Donna of course being one of the few who can actually take the hug of Starfire.

Dick and Cyborg simply waved as they all clambered into the elevator.

"Seriously, Bruce is going to kill me." Dick muttered loudly as the door to the elevator closed.

Everything settled back into a calm as everyone began to move into various places in the common area, BB and Wally getting ready to restart up their game, then Wally turned and looked at Gar.

"Who the hell is Bruce?" Wally asked in sheer sincerity and yet more confusion.

* * *

_**Next Time: Planes arrive, people settle in, a Time-of-girls is held, Bruce and Dick remember why Dick left, Cyborg has an awkward dinner, and Dr. Light's special underwear.**_

Chapter title from: The Smashing Pumpkins  



	3. Chapter 3: Flash Delerium

**Author's Note: Has your brain ever made you a liar? Mine did. That clever bastard. This chapter nearly exploded out of my head over the night so two chapters, one weekend. Please don't get used to it, I'm aiming at one chapter a week, give or take. Hopefully I'll keep up the pace of this one though. So anyways, enjoy!**

**Also; I don't own Teen Titans. Just throwin' that out there.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Flash Delirium**

The next week in Jump City moved pretty smoothly as routines and plans were set up. Donna shared any relevant notes with Beast Boy, which he would use to loosely set up a patrol schedule. Unlike the very strict methods of Robin, Beast Boy tried to keep a lax presence. He felt it would give off a false front of weakness and draw out anyone whose been hiding in the city for too long. Donna was caught off guard by the sound tactic from Gar and approved.

Wally kept up with the Tower's various tech and the T-Car...though more the T-Car, which he promised not to damage and keep in check to Cyborg, but no where did he say he wouldn't poke around to see what made it tick.

Raven and Jinx settled into a nice groove of exchanging books and spell ideas. It was a good form of bonding for the two, and allowed Raven to be social with a girl who was not a complete living battery of happy. After a day or so, Jinx asked what had been bugging her since Starfire left one morning.

"So, what on Earth is this "time of girls" thing?" Jinx asked, grin appearing as she did.

Raven sighed "Oh, god, okay all it is is girl time. Separate time to relax and be reclusive away from men folk for a night. When it was just me and Star it was necessary as we were out numbered but at the moment..." She trailed as Donna sat at the table with a coffee. "I'm not entirely sure it's needed."

Donna quirked an eyebrow, "Why not? Star must've asked you to keep it up for a reason." Raven grumbled slightly at this. Donna watched her in mild amusement as she sipped her coffee, waiting.

Jinx nodded "It does sound like a good idea. I love Wally to death, but he can be a bit..." She looked down slightly sheepishly, keeping her grin as her cheeks tinged pink "Energetic."

Donna looked at her keeping a flat face, "Well, that explains the dull noises that keep me up." Jinx went a full shade redder at the comment as Donna just sipped her coffee then added, "Seriously, in the name of Zeus, move that damn bed away from the east wall or see if he can install sound proofing."

"There's a button on the door keypad that will automatically do that." Raven said without thinking. The other two women looked at her with sudden interest at her knowledge of this feature. Raven's hood suddenly was up in a slight blur as she added on hastily "We added them room-wide after various instances. Star and Robin's first...forays, Beast Boy's late night horror movie-thons in his room. Cyborg's growing love of dubstep was the final straw though."

**Roughly a year and a half ago: 1:30 am**

Raven had settled into her usual night attire of a tank top and shorts for the night, prepping for bed finally. Robin and Starfire had, thankfully, worn themselves out, the music of movie credits faded from down the hall, meaning Beast Boy was snoozing on his bed, remote in hand. She felt herself begin to sink slowly into sleep before a low rumble started from a ways down the hall. Her eyes popped open as she tried to figure out the source. Various attacks on the tower gave all the Titans a decent understanding of all the kinds of things that can make the tower shake,so she could mentally cross off what and where on that list quickly. As she leaned her head out into the hallway, Raven was joined by an equally curious and tired Beast Boy, who was in his usual shirtless, pj pants night combo. The dull noise continued to rhythmically shake the tower as they wandered down the hall, listening for the source, being joined by Robin, also in just pants and sporting a bruise here and there on his torso, followed a minute later by a slightly embarrassed Star wearing an over large shirt and a pair of Robin's shorts. The other two didn't blink as they all wordlessly moved to stand in front of Cy's door, his room the source of their lack of sleep. Starfire stepped forward without a word and knocked hard enough to dent the door slightly. The vibrations and noise halted, as the door opened revealing a sheepish Cyborg.

"...Yes?" Vic said, almost innocently. It did not save him from the glares of the four other teens in various states of tired disarray.

**Now:**

"...Needless to say, those sound proofing systems were finished before next afternoon." Raven completed the story, before taking a sip of her tea.

"You're distracting from setting up a night where we can have time of girls." Donna said causally, raising an eyebrow at Raven while sipping her coffee.

Raven sputtered lightly into her tea, having been caught. "Fine, we can do it tonight if you want. Set it up weekly afterward." She glared lightly at the other women. "Happy?"

Jinx simply smiled her wide grin as Donna smirked while nodding.

During this, Wally and BB were in the middle of an intense bout of Street Fighter, Beast Boy determined to regain his honor.

"Seriously, it's not right for you to use super speed, dude." Beast Boy said as he tapped away at the controller.

"A) Can't use it, would break the controller. B) Don't need it to kick your green ass." Wally replied, grinning.

Two matches later, Beast Boy was finally on a rebound, slowly breaking down and beating Wally back. He almost won the last round when the towers alarms blared.

"MOTHER-FUCKIN-GOD-DAMNIT!" Beast Boy yelled as the alarm cut the TV to the alert notice.

"Oh, what a shame." Wally said, tossing the controller lightly on the couch, letting out the breath he had been holding during the match. BB stood up and tapped the control panel in front of the TV to see what the alert was, and a camera shot of Dr. Light busting into a bank came up.

"Looks like someone took the bait." BB grinned. "Alright Titans, let's GO!"

**Gotham City, few days ago:**

The private jet landed on the tarmac in the setting sun that gave Gotham a looming silhouette. It skidded to a slow crawl, then maneuvering to the private hanger with a large Wayne Enterprises logo on the side. It stopped just short of going into the hanger, lining up near perfectly with the black car parked nearby. A slightly tall, seemingly thin, well dressed balding older man with a neatly trimmed mustache waited calmly as the stairs unfolded from the plane, and the door opened, revealing it's two passengers.

Dick and Kori came down the stairs calmly and immediately walked over to the older man. Initially, the man held out his hand before being caught in a hug by Dick, which he warmly returned.

"It's great to see you, Alfred." Dick said as he broke the hug.

"And it is wonderful to see you in good health Master Dick." Alfred responded, allowing sincere happiness to enter his normal flat British accent. He turned towards Kori. "And this must be your girlfriend, Miss...?"

"Kori Anders, you must be the infamous Alfred I have heard so much about from Boy-from Dick." Kori said, quickly correcting herself, then hugged Alfred herself. Dick winced lightly, hoping she remembered to hold back. For his part, Alfred's face only lightly twitched.

"Well, Ms. Anders, once we get your bags we shall be on our way. Mr. Wayne sends his apologies that he was not out to meet you here but he had some late appointments that needed his attention." Alfred said smoothly. Neither Dick, nor Kori quirked an eyebrow at this, but Dick did rush over to help Alfred with Kori's immense bag.

"She packed half the tower." Dick muttered to Alfred, which earned a small smirk from the butler.

"I assure you there's still space in the house, Master Dick." Alfred frowned at the weight of the bag. "My lord, you weren't kidding. Alright, on three young sir, one, two..." And with the unspoken last word, the two managed to carry the bag to the back of the car. Kori just stared innocently into the sky, smiling softly to herself, enjoying the setting sun and the skyline. After a minute of rest, Alfred motioned for them to get into the car, nodding politely at the resting pilot and stewardess of the plane. They waved as he got into the car driving, driving it off out of sight.

**On the tarmac a minute later:**

The blonde stewardess looked over at the pilot as he sat on the steps that led into the plane, her leaning in the door. "I'm surprised Dick didn't recognize us."

"I'm surprised at how well you rock a stewardess outfit." The blonde, goateed pilot said, smirking as he raised his eyebrows at her. She gave him a slightly deadly look.

"What do you mean surprised?" The question was laced with poison.

"I...uh...mean, I just would have never expected to see you dressed as one. That's all." The pilot stammered quickly, staring straight ahead to avoid eye contact.

"Hrm. Well, if you want to not see me dressed as one, you better find me a nice restaurant for dinner tonight, captain." She said as she walked back into the plane.

"Does it really have to be that long before I can make it up to you?" The pilot asked without looking back. A blouse hitting the back of his head was the response he received.

"Depends on you, doesn't it?" Called her voice from the cabin of the plane.

**In the Car:**

"Why were Green Arrow and Black Canary flying the plane?" Dick asked almost immediately after the car pulled on the road.

"Extra precaution, Master Dick. Master Bruce tries not to leave anything up to chance, you know this." Alfred replied dryly, not deviating his attention from the road.

Dick grumbled. "That's a load of crap, Alfred. Bruce said it was going to be a civilian crew, meaning it had to have been some sorta test." Alfred said nothing as Dick continued to gripe quietly "Not even in Gotham a second and he's messing with me."

"Maybe Butler-Alfred is right, Boyfriend-Richard, maybe it's simply a precaution on the part of Batman." Kori said, resting her hand lightly on his shoulder. Dick looked at her for a second, recognizing her worry, then relaxed.

"Maybe...I dunno, though. Bruce always does three things at once, at least, with anything. Just...be on your guard." Dick said the last part warily.

"I think you have the hrungthaz, Boyfriend-Richard." Kori said with a small smile. Dick stared at her blankly. Star sighed. "Sorry, it is...a specific anxiety attached to a particular subject or person. Feelings that clog up ones senses. If one has too much, they can cause many problems." She explained calmly.

"There are some Eastern beliefs that have a similar idea, keeping the mind clear of negative thoughts and such." Dick nodded, then sighed "I'll try to keep it barred down, besides, I figure he'll at least be polite to you." he finished with a smirk.

"Well, that is what matters, I suppose." Kori replied with a smirk of her own.

**Jump City; Currently:**

By the time the Titans got to the bank, Dr. Light was beginning to make his exit, blinding guards and cops on his way out. They waited for him to get to the street, before Beast Boy coughed loudly.

"You might want to put that deposit back, I think you over drafted." BB said, pointing at the bag over Dr. Light's shoulder.

"Ahhh, the Titans!" Dr. Light said in his usual over dramatic, bombastic tones. He dropped the bag and hopped onto an abandoned car in the middle of the street, staring down at them. "I heard a rumor that the team changed, but I am still prepared for all of you. Even you!" he pointed at Raven, whose flat expression did not change. "I even made sure to wear special underwear this time so I could keep fighting." Dr. Light put his hands on his hips in a very proud manner.

The Titans stared; Jinx scrunched her face in annoyance; Kid Flash awkwardly scratched the back of his head, at a loss; Wonder Girl simply frowned in a confused manner; Raven's face remained flat save for a minor eye twitch and Beast Boy almost had a look of pity.

"All...right...Titans...go, I guess?" Beast Boy said halfheartedly, pointing at Dr. Light.

"Wait, what's the plan?" Wonder Girl asked, stopping herself before rushing forward.

"Well, I was thinking we-" Beast Boy began

"Dude, I got this one, back in a sec." Kid Flash interjected and ran forward in a blur of sparks.

"Flash, ho-" was all Wally heard as he ran towards Dr. Light.' A three second fight for this goon, he would hit him, put the money back and go back to the tower for make sure Beast Boy couldn't beat me at the game again.' That was the plan before his vision was completely enveloped in white. A blast of light enveloped the area around Dr. Light, blinding Wally , causing him to skid across the road in a small hail of sparks towards and into a nearby storefront.

"-ld on." Beast Boy finished as Kid Flash crashed into the building. He sighed and looked at Jinx. "Do you want to check on him?"

"He's fine, he'll just need to rest for a few." Jinx said calmly, having seen Wally take plenty of similar falls.

"Take your word for it. Okay, that plan's gone, Raven, Jinx run distractions so Wonder Girl and I can get close, or at least Wonder Girl, one solid hit should put Light down. Just be careful guys, looks like his suit is doing half the work this time."

The team split, Raven taking to the air, Jinx running forward, their hands ringed with energy as they both went to opposite sides of Light, trying to get him off his guard. Jinx threw a wave of pink energy at the car underneath the doctor, causing it to tilt just enough to throw him off. Light rolled onto the ground, standing up as Raven hovered over him, glaring with four red eyes.

"Are you sure you want to do this again?" She asked, voice twisted in with another, deeper tone of evil inflictions.

"That's what the underwear is for." Dr. Light said, smiling confidently. Raven blinked, four eyes returning to two, then sniffed the air and covered her nose.

"Seriously?" She asked in her normal flat tones as her eyes narrowed at his. The only response she got was a quick blast of energy, sending her flying back. Donna used the distraction to jump up and aim for a solid punch at Light's jaw while a green lion jumped and broke Raven's fall as they both landed with a thud. Wonder Girl's fist hit a force field that was about a foot out from the doctor, which in turn set off another pulse of brilliant white light, causing her to cover her eyes before also being blasted back by a beam of energy from Light.

Raven patted the green lion on the side, letting him know that she was up and okay. Beast Boy shifted back to normal, grumbling as he watched Jinx flip and maneuver around Dr. Light, keeping him occupied. Raven began to float up, cloak fluttering around her, which caught Beast Boy's eye.

"Just might work." He said as he grabbed at an edge of Raven's cloak and began to tear a strip off . Raven glared down.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?!" She shouted as he finished tearing a decent strip of cloth off.

"Explain later, sorry!" He replied as he ran over to Donna, who was shaking light out of her eyes.

"Azrathian cloaks don't grow on trees you know!" Raven yelled after him as she went to go help Jinx.

"You have a million of these things!" Beast Boy yelled back.

"12 is not a million!" She shouted before focusing on getting Dr. Light's attention.

Beast Boy leaned next to Wonder Girl and handed her the piece of cloth, muttering his plan to her, which caused her to grin and nod. Beast Boy looked up in time to see that Jinx and Raven were at either side of Light, both blasting energy that he was deflecting with his own blasts, neither really over taking the other, but still pushing against one another. BB got into a runner's start position, before shifting into a rhino, charging straight at Light as fast as he could carry himself. Dr. Light looked up just in time to see a green rhino smash into the force field, causing it to ripple and fade, but forcing the rhino to stop and get hit with another light pulse. BB shifted back to normal, cover his eyes and jumping back. Dr. Light smiled smugly for about a second before a solid fist connected with the side of his face, sending him careening into a near by car with a thud, denting it and setting off the alarm.

Wonder Girl stood up, lifting the make shift blind fold off an eye, smirking as she looked around.

"Did I get 'em?" She asked, looking around for a second.

"I'll say ya did." Beast Boy replied, standing up beside her, looking at the now very unconscious Dr. Light, who was slumped in front of the dent he made on the ground.

The police came out of the bank that they had holed up in to take cover, as was standard procedure when superheroes and villains had their brawls. They quickly went to arrest Light and slam him into the back of a meta-human holding van they had off to the side. A sergeant walked over to look at the group of exhausted heroes, frowning slightly.

"Where's Robin?"

"He's out of town at the moment, I'm running the team currently." Beast Boy said, perhaps a bit too proudly, enough to cause Raven and Jinx to roll their eyes.

"Oh...well...you did good, looks like you got lucky." The sergeant said, perhaps a bit too sarcastically.

Beast Boy's eye twitched. "So...do you need us for anything?"

"No, usually just thank Robin for the hard work. We need any extra statements or anything, we'll give you the usual ring." The sergeant paused for a moment, before extending his hand, which Beast Boy took and shook lightly.

"Good work, Beast Lad." The sergeant said as he walked off.

"It's Beast Bo-aw forget it." Beast Boy said sadly, before walking back to the team. "You believe that shit?"

"Yes." Raven said in rapid monotone.

"Okay, I know you do, but you three-two." Beast Boy stopped as he looked at Donna and Jinx. "Shit, let's go check on Kid Flash."

The Titans wadded through the wreckage of the clothing storefront that Wally had destroyed in using it as a stopping point. They sifted through clothes, following the scorch marks on the floor until finding him rolled onto his front, scratched up but no worse for wear. Jinx leaned down and tapped his shoulder, then carefully flipping him onto his back.

"You okay there, hon?" Jinx said, small hint of worry as he didn't respond for minute.

Wally groaned and tried to open his eyes, greeted with blurs and flashing sparks lingering in his vision. He moved his arm over his eyes.

"Please, no pictures today. You can get them tomorrow, I'll look pretty tomorrow." He muttered waving his free hand at them in a worn out pushing gesture.

"Told you he'd be fine." Jinx said flatly, eyebrows raising at his statement.  
Beast Boy and Jinx helped Kid Flash up and he leaned slightly on Jinx as his sight readjusted. They got out of the building just in time to see the area settling back down to normal, almost completely resettling as a very disgruntled bank manager turned off the car alarm on his very dented, formerly very expensive,well taken care of, car.

**Gotham City: Few days ago. Again.**

The car pulled up to Wayne Manor just as night was beginning to fall. Starfire got out first just to look at the old mansion. While it looked as if there was a modern face lift or two, it still seemed to reflect the architecture closer to it's early to mid-nineteenth century original construction. It seemed to loom like the nearby city, giving off a slightly less sense of foreboding as the glass and black steel towers of the main city, but it was still present. As Kori stared, taking in the mansion, Dick and Alfred got their bags onto a cart that was already present outside, indicating to Dick that Bruce may already be awake for the day.

"When you said you grew up in a large house, I didn't expect it to be this...large." Star said at last.

"Didn't you grow up in a palace?" Dick asked, amused at her awe of the house.

"I'm royalty, which is something you assured me this country did not have." She turned and looked at Dick with a smile, asking with playfulness "Or was that a lie to cover your tracks, Boyfriend-Richard?"

"We don't have royalty in America. We have something better. Billionaires." Dick said with a grin as he rolled the cart in, after a miniature quiet argument with Alfred about it. As they walked inside, Kori continued to look up and around the dark, but elegant mansion. It seemed even larger on the inside, the entrance giving off signs of old wealth while surprisingly not coming across as showy. It seemed to be a detail that the Wayne family had worked hard across the generations to build into the very soul of the building; show success, but not opulence. She almost didn't notice the tall man standing on the the first flight of stairs that led to the second, then eventually third stories of the main hall.

Bruce Wayne waited patiently for them to enter. Kori noticed he was tall, even without the Batsuit on, and wore a simple black, long sleeved shirt and jeans within the house. It seemed to give the illusion of slimming his figure down slightly, but he was still fairly large and well built. She had also noticed that her guilty pleasure entertainment news shows had not done much justice to his looks, and could easily see how he maintained the image of "billionaire playboy" to the public. He smiled warmly as they approached, stepping down and shaking Dick's hand in an almost forced gesture.

"Good to see you landed safely, Dick." He said calmly, in an almost calculated kindness. If Star hadn't seen Dick use the same tricks occasionally, she would haven't even noticed.

Dick returned the smile with a fake one of his own, "It was a smooth flight, Ollie's getting better at not crashing planes." He could've sworn he saw a flicker of a twitch in Bruce's eye, but he wasn't sure. Bruce turned to Starfire quickly.

"And you must be this Starfire he has been trying to hide from me." Bruce said in the same delicate tones, taking her hand and kissing it lightly. Kori couldn't help but smile. Yes, he _definitely _seemed capable of the "billionaire playboy" image.

"You may call me Kori if you wish, as you are my boyfriend's k'norfka." She said pleasantly, trying to ignore the stirring tension between the two men. Bruce slightly tilted his head at the alien word, his blue eyes seemingly thinking it over.

Star blushed slightly, both from the look and the breaking of English "I am sorry, I often forget, a k'norfka is-"

"A Tamaranean word for guardian, often also translating into a word for an adoptive parent." Bruce said almost as if he was reading it from a dictionary. Both Dick and Kori stared at him blankly, completely caught off guard. Bruce smiled, less warm and closer to the one he had whenever he wore the cowl, "When your best friend is an alien and you work very frequently with Green Lanterns, you pick up a few things." The two just nodded as Bruce looked past them at Alfred. "Why don't you give Kori a tour of the house while Dick and I-" His eyes flickered at Dick quickly then back to Alfred "-catch up."

Alfred smiled "Certainly, come this way Miss Kori." He turned to leave before patting Dick on the shoulder reassuringly before he guided Kori upstairs towards the art gallery of the house eastern half of the house.

Dick and Bruce watched them walk away, before allowing all pretense of politeness drop from between them as they walked in step in the other way towards the western side, where the living quarters and study are located.

"When did you figure out it was Ollie and Dinah on the plane?" Bruce asked, growl almost present in his voice but not quite there.

"When he stared at her legs, then ass pre-flight. I figured it was normal pilot behavior 'til I saw his goatee and then recognized the legs he was staring at. He then caught my eye and winked. Gave it away before we even hit the air." Dick said in a manner he usually reserved for breaking a case down to the team.

"You recognized Dinah because of her legs?" Bruce said skeptically, a smirk on his lips.

" And you wouldn't?" Dick replied, raising an eye brow at Bruce. A grunt from Bruce was the only response he got. "I'll take that as you would." That got another grunt out of him, causing Dick to smile.

**Jump City: In the Now:**

The team had decided to eat out while they were still in town. Of course, they went to the usual pizza joint. Well, the normal teams favorite pizza joint, Donna, Wally and Jinx were being introduced to it. They walked into the main parlor to order, and Wally turned to the rest of them.

"I'll go ahead and order, what do you guys want?" He asked quickly; strange how fast he recovered around food.

"Vegan, all the way, man." BB threw in.

"Spinach and Feta white pizza." Donna added

"Tea." Raven stated simply. Wally looked at her oddly. "I usually bum a slice or two off one of the others. So. Tea." She emphasized the last word in a near threatening tone.

"You know I'll just eat some of yours." Jinx said as he started to turn to her.

"Alllll right." Wally dashed up to the counter, glad to be in uniform so he didn't have to pretend to go slow. He looked at the young woman behind the counter, who simply waited, very used to the Titans coming in.

"Let's see, I'm gonna need one Vegan special, one Spinach and Feta white," He looked back quickly at Raven, whose blank face held a great deal of unspoken threat, "Uhm, one tea, and...oh, two cheese, one peperoni, one sausage and a Hawaiian, why not." The others stared at his back and the order taker had to pause at the end to wait for anything else. Kid Flash looked at her for a second then blinked. "Oh and bread sticks, like four orders of bread sticks."

**Wayne Manor;** **Eastern Wing: A few days ago. Yet again.**

"I wouldn't worry too much about the two of them, Miss Kori. They may grate at each other, but it's a more caring relationship than I think even they'll ever admit." Alfred responded to Kori's expression of worry as they were out of sight of Bruce and Dick. The lights automatically turned on and off as they walked through the halls, sensors picking up the motion and lack there of appropriately.

"I certainly hope so...they seem to enjoy sting plucking at each other." Kori said as she looked at the various family paintings and portraits in the hall. She stopped to stare at an empty frame, the edges of the painting torn out. Star squinted at the name plate underneath, which was also scratched out but not removed. "Butler-Alfred, who was removed from here?"

Alfred stopped and turned around to look at the missing painting. "Ah yes, that my dear, belonged to the first Thomas Wayne, from the eighteen hundreds I believe. He was removed from the family and wall after being caught using his portion of the family wealth to fund a devil worshiping cult. After being cut off he seemed to disappear completely, but as you can see, no one really seemed too put out by it." He explained dryly.

"Fascinating." Star said simply, before they turned to continued going down the hall to the full gallery room. It contained various suits of armor from all sorts of cultures, and replicas of incredibly famous paintings, some even looked like originals. She floated up to get a better look, to which Alfred didn't flinch at. Various visits and meetings with many superheroes over the years had deadened his response to such things. As she floated around, she went to an area towards the back on the second level. The art here was less classical, far more modern and admittedly, disturbing. Some made little sense, and the ones that did seemed to involve some form of mutilation or other depravity.

"Butler-Alfred, What is the meaning of this section of the collection of art. It almost seems...out of place." Kori asked, floating down to still look at the row of paintings, still curious despite the subject matter.

Alfred managed to catch up to her after a minute of her walking to see what she was addressing, then smiled softly. "Ah, this is specifically Master Bruce's addition to the gallery."

Kori looked at Alfred wide eyed, looking between the paintings and him slightly confused; "Why would K'norfka-Bruce collect such things?"

"Master Bruce, as you are aware, has always desired to understand the criminal and insane minds that he faces. These are paintings done specifically by inmates from Black Gate and Arkham Asylum. He feels that having these here gives him a tiny bit more understanding of them." Alfred looked over a particularly off setting picture of what appeared to have been a nude female who was in the process of removing her own skin from the head down surrounded by bright orange streaks of oil paint "I must admit, I do find this aspect of his work a bit...concerning." He said as he found the right word. "He even has a piece the Joker did...unfortunately afterward he stabbed the intern overseeing the project in the eye with the brush he used." Alfred said the last part with a sigh, as he pointed out a painting towards the end of the wall. Kori walked over to look at it. It seemed to be a gruesome self portrait of his face, stretching the Jokers features out, distending the smile to uncomfortable levels. It almost seems to have been half covered with another painting he started, resembling a large Gothic mansion, and towards the bottom another image was super imposed, gray blotting out the remainders of the image to put a simple featureless, cloaked, pointed eared figure in a cape painted in black. Over the entire painting their looked to be a faded brown splatter, which Star uncomfortably thought of the attack that seemed to have followed the painting.

"It...is most disturbing in it's excellent quality." She summarized her thoughts before turning her gaze to Alfred. He smiled sadly, nodding in agreement.

"That seems to be something the madman carries throughout all his works."

They stood there in silence, before moving on to other sections of the eastern wing, mostly unused bedrooms and more galleries, which Star enjoyed, but her mind kept wandering back to the collection of mad paintings and wondering to herself 'Is this what Boyfriend-Richard grew up around? This may just explain a great deal.'

**Jump City; The now:**

They ate outside, as per norm, with their pizzas in front of them, enjoying them thoroughly, Raven stealing a slice from Donna's and Gar's pizzas respectively. Wally had finished the pepperoni, a cheese and was working on the Hawaiian as Jinx had a few slices of cheese and sausage herself. The peaceful moment was ruined as a photographer snapped a shot of very unprepared group.

The picture that would've been in a tabloid the next day had caught Donna mid bite, Beast Boy with a full mouth and crust in his hand, staring blankly at the camera flash, Raven with her hood up sipping tea, a very annoyed Jinx and a somewhat blank Wally holding a handful of bread sticks, ready to shove them in his mouth.

The photographer leaned in near Jinx getting ready to take a picture. "Hey didn't you used to be a villain?"

Jinx's eyes glowed pink and the camera lens snapped before the camera itself seemed to implode. She then smiled widely, "I dunno, didn't you used to have a camera?"

He took the hint and started to run off.

BB looked as the photographer ran away, tripping on a bush as he did so, "Huh, must be new in town."

"Why's that?" Donna asked tilting her head.

"The in town ones learned a few years ago to leave this place alone. Especially after Star and Robin's first attempt at a date." Raven answered taking a sip of her tea. "It's been an odd coincidence that the tabloids have been mostly leaving us alone when we have outings ever since." She looked over at Beast Boy, "You remember how that one's wig caught on fire?"

Beast Boy laughed, "Yeah, and he had to just dunk his head in the fountains over there." he pointed at said fountain. They shared a laugh, causing the other three to stare at them. Raven and Beast Boy looked out at the others, slightly confused.

"What?" They said in near unison.

"This is the nicest we've seen you two be to each other. Ever." Wally said through the last chunks of bread stick in his mouth.

Raven and BB stared uncomfortably at their stares, before a quick use of black energy pulled BB's chair out from underneath him, causing the changeling to fall flat on his ass.

"There. Better?" Raven asked as Beast Boy grumbled, rubbing his backside slightly as he repositioned his chair. Raven watched for a moment, then right before he sat down moved it again.

"Oh, come on, man!" Beast Boy yelled out as he hit the ground again, standing up and moving the chair again, looking at Raven intently. She simply sipped her tea. He motioned at the chair, gesturing an silent question. She shook her head lightly. Gar sighed as he went to sit in the chair again before it flew out from under him again, causing him to plop on the ground again. He looked up at Raven, who just shrugged.

"Really?" He asked, remaining on the ground, crossing his arms.

"I could really do this all day but I think I'll stop now." Raven replied in her normal monotone.

"I can sit in my chair then?" He asked calmly.

"Of course." She sipped her tea calmly.

Yet again, he stood up and moved his chair back. He paused, watching Raven intently as she simply stole another piece of his pizza, looking back at him in her variation of innocently, which was apathetically. Beast Boy started to sit down, stopped mid way to watch Raven eat the pizza delicately before fully going to sit down. The chair slid out yet again.

"Oh goddamnit!" He said as he hit the ground.

If the other three hadn't been laughing at the first three, the fourth had them rolling.

**Wayne Manor, Western Wing; Still a few days ago.**

They approached the study. Without a word, Bruce went over to the large grandfather clock and Dick went to the piano and waited for the time to be set to 10:26 pm, before hitting the three keys that finished unlocking the door to the Batcave. They walked down the steps in silence before stepping into the cave. Little had changed since his last time in the cave, little additions of technology here and there and a display case showing Jason's former tunic. Bruce turned to face Dick after they arrived in the rough main area of the cave.

"So, how's leading the Titan's on the west coast going?" Bruce asked, again in a flat growl.

"I'd assume you already know, so why should I tell you?" Dick asked in a slightly accusatory tone. Bruce's eyes narrowed but he seemed to let it slide.

"Fine. Do you want my assessment, then?" Bruce said, almost at full growl now.

"I have a feeling I'm going to hear it regardless." Dick said plainly.

"You're getting too rigid in your routines. Predictable. Also have been getting slightly sloppy in some of your work. The Brushogun incident-" Bruce had begun before being cut off.

"Caught us all off our guard. In case you didn't read the report, which I know you did, corrupt police agents kind of put a damper on things." Dick interjected, keeping his voice at a harsh, level tone.

"It never stopped us here." Bruce replied coldly.

"What's the point to this, Bruce?" Dick cut to the chase, deciding to dodge what he knew was going to be maybe thirty minutes of back and forth.

Bruce eyed him suspiciously for a second, before sighing. "I want to make sure that you're working at your peak. You've relaxed, slacking off. I figured while you're here, you can help me do runs in Gotham. A return to your roots. Center you, get you focused for things that may come in the future." He said all in his normal calculating tones, straightening his back and folding his arms in front of him.

'Authoritative position, Bruce? How old do you think I am, ten?' Dick thought to himself, recognizing the stance. He mulled it over in his brain...it would be a waste to be here and not help Bruce do patrols. But...he inhaled to begin to ask before Bruce cut him off this time.

"Yes, Starfire can accompany you, if you wish. But she'll need to keep a lower profile. I don't want to attract any more meta-human crazies than I already have to deal with. We'll leave that to Clark." Bruce said with precision. His eyes flickered to look behind Dick at the glass case holding Jason's old tunic then back at Dick. "It would be nice to have you back, as well, if only for a few months." He dropped a hint of the growl down, representing the sincerity of the statement.

Dick looked at Bruce hard for a minute, trying to pin what he was thinking about before giving up and extending his hand, which Bruce shook quickly before letting go and turning towards his armory. Dick continued to look at him for a minute then something dreadful dawned on him.

"Does this mean I have to train while I'm here?" Dick asked, trying to hide the worry in his voice.

"Why would that even be a question?" Bruce asked as the armory door opened up to reveal the Batsuit and various gadgets, a dark smile on his face.

Dick winced and sighed. "Goddamnit."

**Metropolis; That same evening:**

Victor sat at one end of the table, across from him sat his father, Dr. Silas Stone. The main differences in their appearance, aside from cybernetic prosthetics, were surprisingly little. Dr. Stone was a bit lankier, slightly gaunt in features, and still had hair, though it was graying at the temples. They sat in silence, both awkwardly pushing food around on their plates, occasionally eating some. Dr. Stone spoke up, after ten minutes of this.

"How've you been, Victor?" He asked softly

"Fine." Cy said quickly. Another five minutes or so passed.

"...How's your aunt in Jump City been?" He asked again, still trying to provoke conversation.

"Don't know. Haven't seen her since I moved into the tower." Cy said, again quickly in an almost Raven-esqe monotone. Time ticked by some more.

"...How have your prosthetics been doing?" Dr. Stone asked. With that, Vic stood up, a bit quickly, letting his heavy metal hands drop to the table, shaking and denting the wood as he did so.

"How the hell do you think they're doing?!" Vic barked, then left the room grumpily, leaving Dr. Stone in the half lit dining room to stare morosely at his plate.

* * *

_**Author's Notes: And that is Chapter 3. I decided to move Time-of-girls to the next chapter because the Gotham stuff just ate at the chapter tone and content, and I really wanted to end the chapter on the dinner. It didn't feel right to put a very happy scene in the middle of all that. That and honestly, once I got into the Manor, it kinda owned me, as you saw. Btw, most of the stuff I threw in is from Grant Morrison's work on Batman, one way or the other. The paintings were referenced in the Batman and Son arc, and the Joker's painting is based off of the cover to the graphic novel "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth" which I recommend to anyone who has a passing interest in Batman. Anyways;**_

_**NEXT TIME: In Jump City; Time-of-girls, for realz, The Romance stuff actually begins in earnest, and Donna decides to push things a bit too far, which may or may not end up putting a knife in Wally's shoulder. In Gotham; Dick begins to get put through the ringer, and a Wayne Foundation midsummer charity ball brings out a couple of archers from Star City. In Metropolis; Surprisingly, things don't go well.**_

_**That's all for now, guys. Read and review, I'd like to hear as much feedback as I can. Thank y'all.**_

Chapter Title from: MGMT  



	4. Chapter 4: My Poor Brain

**A/N:****Finally got this tuned the way I wanted. Took a little bit, and a bit of a trip into a scene that I had to remove, but I'll mention that after the chapter. Few review things to respond to though, just cause:  
Densharr: The Jinx/Linda thing came out of seeing how close they continued to make Jinx and Wally in the GO! comic series and also the need for her to have a cover i.d., just made sense to do that. Might lampshade it later. **  
**Omeganian:**** Honestly? If he had held on it would've turned into a bucking bronco bit. The chair pull gag just made me laugh too much not to loose. And yes, Roy is awesome.  
raven****andbb4ever: Not gonna lie, saw that review while at work, made my day.**

**Alright so, as said Time-of-Girls to commence and finally have all my chess pieces in play for the romance plot.**

**Soooo let's get this started!**

**Oh, and I don't own Teen Titans. Still. Otherwise, BB would still be green and Raven wouldn't look like a creepy bird lady. Thing.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: My Poor Brain  
**

**Jump City:  
**  
The Titans got back to the tower as the sun was setting over the bay, and they immediately scattered for post mission showers and changing out of uniforms. After that, they all drifted into the common area to relax Wally initially laid down on a near whole side of the couch, flipping the TV on. He stared at it blankly, only moving to sit up to let Jinx sit so she could read. Wally laid back down with his head in her lap, her hand almost unconsciously moving to rustle his hair lightly. Beast Boy, who had initially also sat on the couch on the other end to stare at the screen, looked over at them for a near solid minute, then seemed to force his eyes to the screen. As much as he had hoped it had gone unnoticed, Wally made a mental note to bug him about it later.

Raven had just sat down with her tea, when Donna near instantly sat down next to her and stared at her intently. Very few things made Raven nervous. People staring at her and radiating impatience was admittedly being added to that list at the moment. Probably only because it was Wonder Woman's little sister doing so. Raven returned the stare with one of her own.

"...Yes?" Raven questioned in relaxed monotone.

"When should we start up time-of-girls?" Donna asked, impatience not sinking into the question but still radiating from her.

Raven's eyes narrowed slightly. 'Why are they not letting it go, damnit?' passed through her mind. Donna continued staring, waiting for an answer. Recognizing that there was no way out, and inwardly cursing Starfire for even bringing it up, Raven answered at last, "Fine, we'll meet in my room, twenty minutes, in night clothes"

Donna's expression became a mix of confusion and amusement at the last statement, evident by her both tilting her head and smirking. Raven's hood went up rapidly,amazing how quick she can do that sometimes, "It's just a rule of it, Star's idea and it just seems to be more comfortable that way, don't ask me to explain it." She mumbled out.

Donna smiled at Raven "Alright, see you in twenty." she looked over to the couch as she stood up. "Hear that, Jinx?"

Jinx snapped her book closed. "Yup, I'll go get ready." She looked down at Wally, who had his eyes closed. "Wally, I need to get up." There was no response. "...I know you're not asleep."

"No, but I _am_ comfortable here." He stated playfully, eyes remaining closed, but a smirk played on his face.

"...If you don't move, I'm tickling you." She said in a mock threatening tone, eyes narrowed, eyebrows raised. There was a blur and Wally was sitting up, elbows resting on his knees, hands woven together in front of his face, and his eyes open and locked onto the TV, as if he was like that the whole time. Jinx kissed him on the cheek before getting up and walking towards their room, followed by Donna shortly after.

Beast Boy looked over as the girls left, then back at Raven, who was still nursing her tea at the table. "Hey, aren't you going to go change too, Rae?" The question was laced with bits of actual curiosity and hints of amusement.

Raven didn't look back, but slight annoyance was in her response; "I'm going to finish my tea first. It doesn't take me twenty minutes to get changed."

"Oh, and how long does it take?" He needled a little bit.

"You're going somewhere wrong with this, I know it." She stated in continued annoyed monotone.

"Basic math. If I figure out how long it takes you to get changed, I divide it half and I know how long it takes for you to get undressed and then I save that info for later." Beast Boy explained, wide, fanged smile on his mouth as he did so, by this point having turned around on the couch to rest his head on the back of it to watch her.

A small crack appeared on Raven's mug as the light hanging over the table blinked for a few seconds, before she abruptly stood up, leaving the tea and walked out of the room. As she did, the couch cushions that were not occupied leapt up and piled onto Beast Boy roughly, pressing down on him. A single arm waved frantically from beneath the pile as she left the room. Beast Boy exploded from the mass of cushions, inhaling needed air. Wally simply maintained his position, though his eyes were fixed on Gar.

"Playing with fire, there, buddy." Wally said in amusement, cracking a smile.

"Did she make any kind of face?" Beast Boy asked, panting for air.

Wally raised an eyebrow at the question. "She did not. At least not one I saw. Hood kinda covers things a bit." He motioned a hood quickly with his hands before returning them to their resting folded position in front of him.

Beast Boy sighed. "Damn. Wanna give me a hand with this?" He turned towards Wally, motioning at the cushions surrounding him. Wally nodded, so he turned to go put one in the empty spot next to him, feeling a brush of wind behind him as he did so. Gar went to grab another one, but then noticed they were all back in place, and Wally was leaning back into the couch, feet resting on the coffee table in front of the couch, drinking a soda he must've grabbed from the fridge. Wally just looked over at a blinking Gar.

"You were taking too long." He said with a smirk. Wally pointed at a unopened can soda on the table in front of Gar. Gar just shook his head with a smile, grabbing the soda and relaxing in a similar manner to Wally. Wally waited for him to open the can and take a sip before asking "So why do you bug Raven so much when you know it's not going to end well?"

Gar choked slightly on the soda, coughing for a sec, before turning to look at Wally, managing a slightly garbled response of "What?"

"Just keep noticing it, not just the past week but other visits too. You just seem to poke her, wait for a reaction, which ends usually in magical violence towards you, then after a while, repeat. What gives?" Wally said smiling.

Gar took another sip of soda, seeming to weigh things in his head. "Dunno, just enjoy getting a reaction out of her. Even if it ends badly, knowing that I cause a reaction in anyway from Raven is kinda..nice." he managed to finish.

Wally looked at Gar, smile still on his lips. "You like her."

Gar went wide eyed, coughing up another attempted sip "Stop doing that shit when I'm trying to take a drink, dude!" he coughed out.

"I'm not hearing a no." Wally teased, eyebrows raised as Gar finished coughing, face red, but he wasn't sure if it was from the question or lack of air.

"Listen, it's not like-" Gar initially started then stopped, "I'm not sure I-" He tried again but halted, "I-" He went before stopping himself a third time. He looked around the room shifty eyed for a second, shoulders slouching, and face going a tinge redder, "Yes, okay? Just...don't tell anyone."

"Well the first step is always admitting you have a problem." Wally said calmly as he took sip of soda.

Beast Boy put his drink down, giving up on it. He slouched into the couch, arms folded over his chest and seemed to be pouting slightly, face still red looking away from Wally. "You're an ass."

"Not the first to say that." Wally retorted calmly.

"I'm sure Jinx was." Gar grumbled.

"No, actually I think it was Grodd." Wally thought intently for a second. "No, no it was totally Captain Cold. Remember it now. Grodd called me an ass later. But it was totally Cold first."

Beast Boy just raised an eyebrow at Wally's outward thought process.

**Gotham City; Same day, but earlier.**

"Boyfriend-Richard, I'm about to head out for more exploration of the local urban area, would you like me to get you anything?" Kori asked as she was getting dressed in comfortable civilian clothes. Dick was still in bed, sprawled in his attempt to get cozy. He let out a low, tired groan.

"Like I said the past few days, I think I'll be fine, Kori." Dick said through a pillow, trying to block out the sunlight entering the room. There was a pause as she continued to get dressed, "Thanks, though." He added.

She walked over and kissed him on the top of his head. "I will see you in the evening, get some rest, okay?" his hand lifted up wearily and gave her a thumbs up as she left the room.

The past week had been going on like this; Kori going to explore Gotham, both to sight see and become familiar with the layout. And shop. Dick rested during the day and trained under Bruce at least an hour and a half before heading out for night for patrols. The training was, in a word, brutal. The other Titans may have found Dick's training regimen strenuous, but in truth it was him going easier than what he trained under. Bruce could probably break a Marine instructor or two, simply through the physical aspect alone. Added in were the random questions; scenarios of opponents, chemical compositions of various drugs and poisons, basic first aid, _advanced_ first aid, escape methods from several kinds of lock, basics in disabling various firearms, etc. They were relentless, and if he didn't answer quickly enough, Dick would have to start the whole course again. It was exhausting.

Thankfully, afterward, they would usually take the Batmobile in to Gotham. Even on his first night doing patrols, Robin had easily settled back into his work routine with Batman. Even though it had been a few years since they had an actual mission together, they worked seamlessly as a team. It was when Dick went on his own during the second half of the night that problems would start. Where he should be, places he should avoid, if it was one of the bigger bads, wait for Oracle to call backup, and if it was Joker, avoid at all costs. Dick didn't think Joker was out of jail, let alone back in the states yet, it was still too soon after what happened overseas, but then again, it was the Joker. He seemed capable of damn near anything sometimes.

Dick found this aspect of patrols grating. He had been working with a team the past five years that had on at least two separate occasions saved the world from immediate destruction, once after the fact. He had fought Slade Wilson to a near stand still, something even Batman had trouble doing. It was like Bruce was ignoring all of that experience purposefully. Probably was, Dick had thought to himself one patrol night. Why, he wasn't sure yet but it was beginning to wear on him with every rough training and every barked order on patrol.

**Jump City: Later again;**

The girls had settled into Raven's room after getting settled into proper attire. Donna wore a plain white tank top with blue sweat pants with stars on it, while Jinx had put on one of Wally's shirts with purple pajama pants. Raven's attire was a tad off compared to the other two, dark blue shorts and a black hoodie, the hood already up, and her hands hiding in the pockets of it. Jinx spoke up before Donna could.

"You seriously expect us to believe you wear that to sleep?" Skepticism laced the query.

"I actually do...when it's cold." Raven monotoned in response.

Donna raised an eye brow. "That's cheating, c'mon. Take it off."

Raven seemed to bury herself into the hood more. "No, it's comforting right now. Comfortable." She tried correcting quickly.

"Why is an Assassin's Creed hoodie comforting?" Jinx asked. The other two girls stared blankly at her. "What? That's what it is. The beak on the hood gives it away."

"What the hell is Assassin's Creed?" Donna asked in general confusion.

"It's a video game series. Wally plays the thing to death. I thought you didn't play those things, Raven?" Jinx asked, grin appearing on her face, beginning to suspect something...

"I...I don't. It was a gift. Winter Solstice gift." Raven said, still trying her best to hide in the hoodie.

"From whom?" Donna asked, sharing both Jinx's curiosity and suspicion.

"A friend." Raven evaded.

"Which one?" Jinx pressed.

"One that lives in the tower that is here to give me gifts on such an occasion." Raven responded quickly, again trying to shrink herself that much further into the hood.

"Beast Boy?" Donna asked, staring at where she guessed Raven's eyes were in the hood. There was a long silence. And a lamp on Raven's bedside table fizzing before the light bulb made a small popping noise as it exploded, glass contained by the lampshade. Donna frowned slightly at the smoke rising from the ex-lamp, Jinx just grinned while she waited for a reply.

"Maybe." Raven said finally, realizing that they had both backed her into a conversational corner.

**Common Room:**

"Soooooo How long, man?" Wally asked after letting Gar pout for roughly ten minutes. Gar shuffled in his spot uncomfortably.

"Remember how I told you about that time Me and Cyborg ended up in Raven's mind?" He said after a minute.

"The time that you told me to not tell her that you told me otherwise she'd probably put me in a realm of Lovecraftian horror?" Wally asked

"Yup. That one. I'd say it probably started after I realized she didn't hate me." Gar half muttered, reminiscing.

"So you've been carrying this for roughly over four years? What about the whole Terra thing?" Wally pried a bit further

"She...well...Terra was important. Is important. I think I latched onto her because Raven just didn't...respond I guess?" He looked at Wally, shrugging at the words.

Wally nodded. "Sooo I'm guessing after you let Terra go, your harassing has reached it's current state?"

Gar raised an eyebrow "That's kinda a harsh phrasing, dude."

"Well, if a guy bugs a woman, and it ends up getting rebuffed in, perhaps non-lethal but violent ways, I kinda might just categorize it as such." Wally said in an almost official manner.

"You sound like a cop." Gar responded in a flat tone.

"My uncle's a cop. Hang around anyone long enough, and something's bound to rub off." Wally said as he scratched the back of his head.

"It's still...it's not really like that. It's just how...we've always really interacted for the most part. I poke, she responds, and just maybe I get a smile." Gar said, almost sadly.

"That's...hrm...that's kinda..." Wally said, trying to dance around the word that kept floating to his mind.

"Pathetic, I know." Gar finished.

Wally sighed; "Okay, glad you said it, not me."

"You're right, though. It didn't get quite as bad until the past year. I just...can't seem to break through, ya know?" Gar stumbled out.

"Have you tried...I dunno, just talking to her?" Wally asked

**Raven's Room:**

Raven continued to hide in her hoodie as Donna sighed at Jinx, who was laughing, not hard, nor in a mean way just seemed to be letting out something she'd been holding in**.**

"Sorry, it's just..." Jinx breathed and controlled herself as Raven glowered from inside her hood. Jinx finished; "It's just been so..._obvious_."

Raven's expression shifted to a confused,possibly panicked one as she tilted her head at the statement. "How?"

"First things first; Loose the hoodie." Donna took control of the conversation for second. "I want to actually see your face when we're talking, no hiding."

"...Do I have to?" Raven seemed to let a hint of pleading enter her monotone.

Jinx initially opened her mouth to talk but Donna's hand covered it, causing her to cast a glare in Donna's direction.

"Only if you want to know why it's obvious." Donna said with a smile, quirking an eyebrow at Raven. Jinx's glare instantly went away with a happy nod of her head.

Raven sighed and _very_ reluctantly began shed the hoodie. She unzipped it to reveal a simple black tank top and as she tossed the jacket to the side, the lack of hood revealed that her face was a deep shade of red. Raven folded her arms over her chest. "There, happy?"

Donna nodded, still smiling as she removed her hand from Jinx's mouth. Near instantly Jinx began to pick at Raven; "See, that just adds to it! He's not even here and just bringing him up gets a reaction."

Raven just glared at her for a minute before asking; "How is a reaction a sign that I like him?"

"We didn't say you liked him, just that he got you the hoodie that you were wearing for comfort. " Donna pointed out, still smiling.

"...I hate you." Raven's hands went to her face.

"Hey, don't get mad at us for pointing something out." Jinx continued in a playful tone.

"I was talking to myself, but sure." Raven said flatly as she curled her legs up to her chest and rested her head on her knees while wrapping her arms around her legs to form a ball of embarrassed disgruntlement.

Jinx sighed, continuing to smile but with less of a teasing edge; "The only reason I say a reaction is a sign of anything is because that's how Wally got me. Poked and prodded to get me to think out of the little box I was in, not just as a villain just...being alone I guess."

"Then the poking and prodding took another meaning, I take it?" Donna added

Jinx nodded cheerfully until it sunk in fully what Donna said, then turned beet red. Donna took the opportunity to leap in charge of the conversation again.

"Why are you so uncomfortable with liking someone?" Donna asked, with genuine confusion. Raven just sighed.

**Common Room:**

"Dude, talking to her about it is...more dangerous than teasing." Gar responded to Wally's question after a minute of panicked thought.

"Really?" Wally asked skeptically.

"It can be." Gar said softly. "Her powers are emotion based, so even though poking gets those little out bursts...prolonged conversations on sensitive topics can be...continuously hazardous."

"Sounds you're talking from experience." Wally said, curiosity entering his tone while holding a small smile.

"Well...kinda...sorta. It just...Okay, so do you know about the Malchior thing?" Gar said quickly. Wally shook his head, so he went on, "It was this dragon trapped in a book, disguised itself as a trapped wizard in a book and manipulated Raven using her feelings of loneliness. Broke her heart, half the tower and my hand if I remember correctly." As he said it, Gar examined his left hand momentarily before diving back into the story; "So afterwards, I talked to her...actually comforted her for a bit...then got hit in the head with a stinkball." His eye twitched remembering the interruption.

"None of this sounds bad so far." Wally said, kinda confused.

"Welllll, after the game, which Raven actually won, I tried to talk to her again about it and well..." Gar scratched the back of his head "It didn't go entirely according to plan..."

**Raven's Room:**

"...and so the more he talked, the more he pried I eventually kinda snapped and blew up the hallway. And some of the near by rooms. Robin wasn't happy." Raven explained her half of the situation to the girls. Donna stared blankly at this, while Jinx had her usual "up to no good" grin on.

"So was it the conversation or the fact that it was him?" Jinx asked quickly.

Raven blinked at the question. "...What does that mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like; is it just any close relationship or is it just Beast Boy that gets this reaction out of you?" Donna elaborated.

Raven rested her head on her knees, seeming to mull the question in her head. "Honestly?"

"Wouldn't ask for anything else." Donna stated almost sternly.

"Probably because it's him. Robin pushes when he needs for answers, but pulls back when he knows he's upsetting me. Cyborg just doesn't pry, asks but respects it when I say I'm not up for talking. Gar is just relentless." Raven sighed, trying to hide a small smile in her knees as the lamp on the other side of the bed flickered.

"So why not just tell him? Instead of.." Donna began.

"Trying to maim him brutally?" Jinx finished dryly.

**Common Room:**

"I think she just can't handle getting close, like _really_ close to people." Gar answered Wally's question.

"So why do you keep trying?" Wally asked as if he knew the answer, if the smirk on his face was any clue.

"I...just...do." Gar struggled out. "I can't think of any other way to approach her. So I just keeping going on, take the hits and roll with it. Dunno." Gar just stared forward blankly.

"Hmmm." Wally said as he nodded his head with his eyes closed.

"I don't like the sound of that." Gar muttered.

"Well, to me, it just sounds like you might just need to change your tactics." Wally stated simply.

"Really now?" Gar said blandly.

"Is what you're doing now working?" Wally turned at looked at Gar, who didn't answer. "Well there ya go."

Gar sat there thinking for a second before asking, "How do you and Jinx make it work, like, seamlessly?"

Wally coughed into the soda he was taking a sip of at the question. Gar took in the high speed blurs of the coughing as wonderful karma. When he was breathing a second later, Wally spoke up.

"Well...it's not been completely unicorns crapping rainbows. Been a few ups and downs, but overall it works because we've made it work." He replied calmly. A silence fell over them for a minute before Wally broke it, "Is that what the jealous looks are for? We got something you don't, so it bugs ya?"

Gar seemed to straighten up a bit, looking really uncomfortable before grumbling a soft "Sorry 'bout that."

Wally just smirked. " 'sall good. Just...cut it down a bit. I can only deal with so many people after me at once."

"Your loss." Gar replied with a grin.

"Oh, believe me, I know." Wally sighed, putting his hands behind his head. "I know."

**Raven's Room:**

"I'll think about it but...just talking about this to you two has destroyed two lamps and a perfectly good evening." Raven said with hints of annoyance entering the monotone after hours of hassling, "I really don't want to think of the state of the tower if I talked to _him_ about it so, yeah. Now I'm throwing you out because I need to get more tea and sleep."

Donna sighed and stood up, stretching; "Alright, but keeping this stuff bottled up can't be good for your powers. I promise, I won't bug you next week about this, but if you need to talk, I'm here, kay?" Raven simply nodded.

"I make no such promise, but I'm always up to lend an ear." Jinx said as she stood up to leave, meeting Raven's glare with a wide grin.

"Though I think next time, we'll bother Jinx about her relationship." Donna said, thumbing in the pinkette's direction.

Raven seemed to mull it over with a smirk; "That works"

Jinx bristled "Only if the week after we get to bother you about your love life."

"Well that will be a short conversation." Donna replied smoothly, causing to Jinx puff up momentarily in anger, then go back into her grin, a thought crossing her.

"Alright, we'll leave ya alone." Jinx grabbed Donna's arm and dragged her, somewhat unsuccessfully out of the room.

"What on earth was the quick exit for?" Donna asked as she let herself get dragged a little ways down the hall before effortlessly yanking her arm free.

"I got a plan." Jinx said giddily.

"That statement coming from you almost scares me." Donna commented dryly.

Jinx waved her hand dismissively "Well, I'll have to do better next time to get rid of the 'almost'. Look, it's simple. She needs a little push, that's all."

"And?" Donna's tone was skeptical

"You're going to give her that push." Jinx said while pointing at Donna.

Donna stared at Jinx, eyebrows raised, arms crossed. "Why me?"

Jinx's grin, if possible, grew wider, "Well I can't flirt with Beast Boy, I'm taken."

**Common Room:**

"Seriously though, you get in a rut, you need to talk, lemme know. If I don't have answers, I know people who do." Wally said as they were playing a racing game, deciding it was safer than Street Fighter.

"Like who?" Gar asked, somewhat distracted.

"Well, if you need sex advice, we go to my Uncle Hal. You need relationship advice, we go to Uncle Barry. And if you want to be sick for a week from pure relationship happiness, we talk to my Uncle Ralph." Wally said in a calm fashion, trying to hide his irritation as Gar passed him.

"Okay...I got Ralph, he's public, I hate to ask but who are the other two?" Gar asked in mild confusion.

Wally sighed; "Well, you'll find out eventually; Hal is the Green Lantern from Coast-"

"The crazy one?" Gar interrupted

"Yup. And Uncle Barry is Flash." Wally finished, catching up in the race.

Gar mulled it over for a second as he struggled to maintain his lead. "So how are they all your Uncles?"

"Uncle Barry is actually my uncle, the other two I've just known forever." Wally answered as he passed then won the race. "BOOYAH!" he stood up and cheered...then stared ahead awkwardly, frowning. "I have no idea why I said that."

"It happens." Gar smirked, raising an eyebrow. "One more race?"

"Damn right." Wally said as they began to set it up.

"Walllly, I'm going to bed!" Jinx called from the hall.

"Kay!" He replied as he waited for the race to start.

"And I'm naaaaked!" Jinx called again.

"Wastotallyfunbutsuddenlyamverytirednightdude!" came out all at once as Wally disappeared from his spot on the couch in a blur of sparks. Gar sighed and shook his head as he turned the console off and switched the TV to a cheesy monster movie, before hearing a disappointed Wally from the hall "Heeeeey, you lied!"

Raven waited for the noise in the hall to go down before going out into the common area to get her pre-sleep tea, finding just Beast Boy sitting on the couch staring at the screen.

"Oh...hey." She said softly

"...Hey." He replied as she started to drift towards the kitchen to make her tea.*

**Metropolis:**

The past month had not been going well for Cyborg and his father. Mostly his father, who Cyborg avoided any chance he could. Vic spent most of his time in town either helping ease Superman's burden of crime fighting, or hanging around Dr. John Iron's Steelworks. Though initially not bothered, as weeks went on, John began to slowly try and understand Vic's reasons for being there.

"I just don't see how you're not grateful, that's all." John had said while they were welding a patch for his suit sometime during the fourth week.

"It's...hard to be grateful, Dr. Irons. I don't have anything resembling a normal life anymore, and it really boils down to being his fault." Cyborg replied with minor agitation over going over this again.

"But you have a life. That seems better than the alternative." John said steadily. When Vic didn't respond, he kept going, "Look, I'm not going to tell you to forgive him, or even keep up ties with him after this visit, but Christ, Vic, you're not even giving him a chance. You're acting like...whose that little green guy on your team?"

"Beast Boy?" Cyborg winced as he mentioned the name, knowing where this was going.

"Yeah, you're acting like him...if he was 12." John said, halting the patch for a minute to remove his welding mask to look at Vic in the eyes.

"...He was actually disciplined at 12." Cy muttered.

"What the hell does that say about you?" John stared at Vic intently.

"...Not a whole lot of good, it seems." Vic stared at the floor, feeling terrible.

"Just try. I'm not Kal, I'm not going to press the issue anymore, but just give him a chance. I have trouble thinking a terrible father wouldn't do anything to save his son." John said sternly as he flipped the mask back down to finish the patch.

**Gotham:**

"I am still not sure what I am to wear." Kori complained as she paced around the room in her underwear, well more accurately her bottoms. She never really did wear the bra when she didn't have to.

"You have at least 30 dresses to choose from." Dick replied with mild irritation, trying his best to stare at the ceiling as he continued to lay in bed. He knew better to look at her in moments like this. It'd take away any wits he had. He knew it, she knew it. Dick suspected that anytime Star sensed an argument brewing is when she felt the need to walk around their room topless.

"I do not, it is merely 18." She snipped back.

"My apologies, I was off by 12." Dick responded dryly.

"...Maybe I should go looking for another." Kori wondered out loud.

"...You went shopping the first two weeks you were here!" Dick put an arm over his eyes so he wouldn't look at her.

"It was _you_ who suggested that I do so!" She yelled back at him.

"I said go browsing, I didn't say buy half the damn shops on 5th." He growled out.

"Dick, you are growling." Kori said calmly. He knew it was bad, she hadn't used the honorific. Or his full name. There was a lull in the conversation which he used to calm down and think things over.

The past month had possibly been the closest he had been to hell. And he had been to Hell, more or less. It got a little better after Star joined him on patrols but Bruce didn't let up in training or orders. In fact, it just seemed to get worse. Adding more stops for his patrols, chastising him for incredibly minor errors in reports. He even got into an argument with Robin in front of Gordon on top of the GCPD a few nights ago. Gordon, for his part, looked as if he felt very bad for Robin but didn't want to step in the middle of it. Smart man, Jim Gordon. The added stress is now the Martha Wayne Foundation Mid-Summer Charity Ball, which as the protege of Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and his girlfriend, Kori Anders (a model or something, no one really knew), are expected to be there. It was a day before and it seemed that shit had hit the fan for Dick already.

Dick too a deep breath, and sighed, removing his arm, and sitting up to look at Kori. She was already looking at him, arms crossed, almost waiting. She really did know him too well.

"I'm sorry." he said softly. "It's been a rough month."

Kori sighed quietly "I know. That is why I am not entirely angry with you."

"Not entirely?" Dick tilted his head.

"You are still being of no help in my search of a good dress." She said with a small smile.

"Star, I'm going to be completely honest with you. I don't think it matters, you'll be able to do well in anything. Hell," He looked her up and down for a second, smirking "You seem to do well with nothing."

Kori's face tinged red slightly as she began to strut towards the bed, smiling seductively "Flattery will get you everywhere, Boyfriend-Richard."

**Jump City:**

The past month had been mostly uneventful. A major villain hadn't shown up since Light, but minor crimes popped up here and there. The free time allowed the visiting Titans to settle into their roles a bit further and better. Though the time-of-girls had left Raven a tad miffed at Jinx, she didn't pass up a chance to talk to her about spells and books still. That and she couldn't seem to get a free moment with just Donna.

Donna had been spending a great deal of time going over notes with Gar, and time in general with him. Chatting him up during gym and training sessions, asking him about the games he was playing, little things. Raven didn't think too much of it until during one of the note reviews, she noticed from her spot on the couch that Donna had leaned over almost specifically to show off her chest. Raven's eyes narrowed underneath her hood. Not that she felt that she was underdeveloped herself, it's hard to compete with someone literally carved by gods, if the rumors of her and Wonder Woman's origins were true. Beast Boy, for his part, did his damnedest not to look. He starred intently at the tablet screen and seemed to be forcing himself to make eye contact with Donna. Well, almost entirely, as Raven saw his eyes flicker down momentarily then staring back up, to which Donna seemed to smile more at.

Wally's can of half full soda on the coffee table crinkled into itself roughly, sending it's contents all over the table. He paused his game to look over at Raven, who simply stared back at him, almost daring him to say something. Wally, for his part stared for a moment before dashing up, cleaning the table, replacing the soda and restarting his game within a few seconds. He would look over at Raven nervously every couple seconds, who was back to watching Donna and Beast Boy's conversation.

'I may need to have a talk with her.' She thought to herself as they laughed and the TV, which Cyborg had set up years ago to be protected against Raven's powers, none the less blinked off. Wally initially groaned but thought better of it as Raven glared daggers into the side of his head.

Jinx didn't look up from her book, but smiled. 'Seems to be working.' passed through her mind as she turned a page.

**Gotham:**

The Gotham Plaza Hotel ballroom was, of course, well decorated for the evening. When the owner of the hotel says "Hey, we're doing a charity ball on the thirtieth , make it happen.", they do their damnedest not to disappoint. Across the vast room were various pieces of art completed by artists who had in someway received assistance from the Martha Wayne Foundation. The music was being played also by musicians who owed the foundation their careers. The room looked positively packed as well, as was usual for a Wayne event in Gotham. Anybody who was or wanted to be anybody made sure to come to these. Bruce observed the room from his private table in a raised area of the ballroom, pretending to nurse a wine glass. Dick and Kori were dancing to the waltz in the crowd. Selina Kyle dancing with someone different every other note, which is to be expected. Reporters from all over to get needed shots and hopeful interviews from some of the visiting high society and industrial big wigs. He frowned when he saw one of the people giving and interview was Lex Luthor. Bruce didn't remember inviting him, meaning Lex probably bought a ticket somehow, something to look into later. Bruce looked at the crowd dancing and noticed an absolutely stunning dark brunette dancing with a large, almost clumsy looking bespectacled man. While his date had dressed very well for the occasion in a dark blue backless dress, he seemed to be wearing a simple blue suit with red tie.

"Clark looks like he's in way over his head, doesn't he?" Bruce heard from his left, shaking him out of his thoughts. He turned to see a blonde man, sporting a goatee and fine, dark green suit.

"Oliver, sit, sit have a drink!" Bruce smiled broadly, shaking Ollie's hand and near shoving him into the seat next to him. "So, what brings you to Gotham?" he asked playfully.

"You have too much fun putting on a show." Ollie said in a lowered voice as he reclined in his seat, grabbing an offered glass of champagne from a waiter.

"What can I say? Alfred insists I practice acting to not loose my touch. Might as well enjoy it." Bruce's smile seemed to darken a bit with his lowered tone of voice. "Care to join me for an interview for the Planet in a moment? As soon as the reporters are done with the song that is?"

"Sure, I'm sure it'd make Perry happy. Tell them about the new contacts we joined up on?" Ollie took a sip of the champagne.

"Which ones?" Bruce said as he pretended to sip his wine.

The song ended with a polite applause as the various dancers dispersed into a crowd.  
Dick and Kori made their way up to Bruce's table, taking their seats next to him. He had settled on a simple black suit with a dark blue tie, and Kori had (finally) settled on a dark purple dress. It seemed to be made of a single piece of cloth, with a strap of fabric going around her neck to hold it up, allowing the dress to seem to drape onto her figure. It was simple, but showed off enough curves that turned heads, and cause disgruntled looks when noticing whose arm she was around.

"Ollie, good to see you made it. Fly yourself in this time?" Dick asked cheerfully.

"Naw, decided to pay someone to do that this go around. Didn't want to think on the way out here." Ollie smirked. A red-haired young man appeared out of the crowd dressed in a dark, dark red suit that seemed almost black. He took initially went to take the seat next to Ollie before being stopped.

"Hold on, Roy, you haven't introduced yourself. Dick, have you met my associate here?" Ollie said quickly, unable to hide a grin.

"I'm not entirely sure." Dick did his best to hide the teeth grinding he was doing as he went around the table with Kori. "Dick Grayson." He held out his hand which Roy reluctantly took, putting on a poorer attempt at a polite face.

"Roy Harper." A flash bulb went off of to the side of them, capturing the moment, which they ignored as Dick and Roy tried to see who could crush whose hand better. Jimmy Olsen would later discard it, finding it not one of the more memorable images from the evening.

Kori coughed slightly. Dick instantly let go and motioned towards her."And this lovely woman is my girlfriend, Kori Anders."

Roy delicately took her hand and kissed it "My-"...and winced as her thumb pressed onto his fingers out of sight. "-Pleasure." he finished as she smiled sweetly at him.

The three sat down at their own spot of the rounded table as Clark Kent and Lois Lane Kent joined the table next to Ollie and Bruce, striking up pleasant conversation. Dick ignored it mostly, turning to Roy.  
"Surprised you kept as straight of a face, Roy." He grinned.

"Well, I don't have as much practice. I don't get dragged to these often, just when Ollie feels like he has to show off his protege. That and it gets me out of Steel for a while." Roy muttered, grabbing a glass of champagne from a passing waitress, watching her walk away for a second before turning back to the two. "So, how's the home tour going?"

"Peachy." Dick grumbled.

"Figured as much, any word from Vic?" Roy leaned back in his chair, sipping the champagne.

"Victor has been well, though he did not say much of how he and his father are doing together." Kori said, deciding not to mention the fact that Vic's been ducking out with Clark sitting across from them.

Roy nodded, before looking around for a sec then motioning the two to lean in so he could talk lowly, "I got a problem and I need some help, guys."

"No, I am not helping you find a weed guy while you're in town." Dick said flatly.

"No-that's not it at all-look all I do for that is steal some of Ollie's-beside the point." Roy quickly threw his hands up a little "I think Vic is trying to cheat me out of money again."

Kori and Dick stared at him before laughing. Roy glared slightly, but waited for them to finish.

Dick relaxed first, "Please, please tell me he didn't hook you into another bet."

Roy slumped his shoulders while nodding.

"Friend-Roy, you need to avoid these. I can not imagine this is good for your finances." Kori looked at him worriedly.

"No it's not, but honestly, I thought I had him this time. I did." Roy stressed "But then it gnawed at me, so I gotta ask while we're here; Is there any way, shape or form, that Gar and Raven would hook up?" He said this with the up most seriousness, but it still caused the other two to look at him like he was crazy.

"Please, inform us that this is not the bet that you took." Kori had an expression that was somewhere between genuine worry and amusement.

"I could, but it'd be a lie." Roy replied

Dick had to actually put his face into his arms on the table for a minute.

"Are you okay, sir?" a passing bus boy asked, concerned.

"Something's not hitting me right, I'll be good in a minute." Dick answered trying to shake off the laughing fit. He sat up as he watched the bus boy walk back towards the kitchen, noticing he seemed a little young to work here, but dismissed it for the moment to hassle Roy.

"Seriously, man? Thought you learned your lesson last time." Dick was smiling broadly at Roy's disgruntled expression.

"I think I lost another two hundred, didn't I?" Roy finished his glass of champagne before grabbing Dick's untouched drink. Dick didn't say anything until Roy took a sip.

"That's rum."

Roy coughed, having not prepared himself. "Thanks for the warning."

"My pleasure. As much as I want to confirm your lost bet, I can almost honestly say that they're not a couple." Dick calmly took his drink back, putting it on a passing waiter's tray and taking replacing it with a water smoothly. Dick smiled again at Roy, who was looking confused. "Just got it to see if you'd steal it."

"Honestly still hung up on the first thing, I'll be angry at the second in a minute. They're not dating, but I lost the bet?" Roy seemed as if he was straining his brain a little.

"They have yet to be honest with themselves, but they very much care for each other deeply." Kori explained.

"Oh. Great. Damnit, Vic. He's playing hardball this time." Roy pouted for a moment, slouching in his spot. "I'll get 'em."

"I'm sure you will, Roy." Dick took a sip of his water, still enjoying the unintentional show of the evening.

**Jump City: The next day**

"What the hell did you do to this thing, Wally?" Gar asked as he stared at the over large treadmill in the gym.

"Modified it so I can can run on it. Be nice to get a few hundred miles or so a day again. I used to have one at home, and every time Jinx and I crash at a tower, I make one from memory." Wally replied as he finished connecting a large bundle of wires from it into the an open panel in the floor.

"And the wires are for...?" Gar felt as if he was watching a mad scientist at work.

"Connects to the power grid, biggest addition I put in is a turbine, that's why it's so bulky. So not only can I run inside, but I can help lower the power bill." Wally said proudly as he stared at the contraption.

"Just...don't rip a hole in space time." Gar said as he backed away to start on an elliptical bike, which he turned around slightly so he could watch Wally run. Also to watch in case a fire broke out from the dangerous looking machine and he had to jump out a window.

Wally plugged ear buds into his ears, and stretched before stepping onto the tread mill and began to run, slowly first to ease the turbine but settled into a small blur of energy as he ran faster, spacing out as he did so. Sparks ran from the turbine slightly, but no fires seemed to start up.

Gar shook his head as he began to start up on the bike before noticing Donna walk in carrying a small blanket and target sheet under her arm. He nodded at her happily, which she returned. They'd been getting along surprisingly well the past month. It helped with the note process, and she genuinely seemed to listen to his imput on which to discard and which leads to follow up. It made Gar actually feel like a team leader. That and she laughed at his jokes, sometimes a fake laugh (he's gotten good at telling over the years) but some were full on. He watched as Donna set up the target on the wall across from Wally's treadmill a carefully revealed a set of throwing knives. Gar's eyes lit up like the big kid he is as he looked.

"Duuuuuuuuuude, that is so cool!" He then winced as the pedals he had stopped pedaling on kept going into the back of his leg. Donna chuckled at his reaction. He hopped off to walk over and hunch down to look at the simply, but elegantly designed knives. "Why do you have these?"

"It was part of my training on Themescyra, to help with coordination and timing. One of the lessons we had to learn is to count the rotations before it hits the target." Donna explained as she held up a knife, then balanced it on her finger delicately, looking at the target intently, then pushed it up with her finger half a foot in the air, grabbing it with the same hand and tossing it near center into the target. Donna grumbled to herself "Five rotations, I think I would've gotten yelled at for that in this distance."

"Hey, can I try?" Beast Boy asked as he looked up at Donna, very hopeful expression. Donna looked at him, thinking for a second before shrugging.

"Sure, but don't hurt yourself. I might feel bad." Donna smirked. Gar practically leaped up, knife already in hand, but Donna frowned. "Don't hold it like that, you're holding it like you're going to stab someone." Donna picked up a knife, holding the hilt loosely in her hand. "You don't want to keep a tight grip, it's supposed to leave your hand, but you need to keep control. Most of the weight in these are built into the blade, so when you lift it back, hold more towards the end of the hilt then let it go, let the knife do all the work." As she said this, she demonstrated the knife effortless spinning to hit near the center dot again. Donna muttered to herself again, must've been too many spins, as Gar tried his best to follow her example of throwing. For the most part, he followed the motions well, but let go way too soon, causing it fling towards the floor underneath the target sheet.

"Damnit." Gar muttered as the knife sunk itself in the floor with a dull thunk. He looked at Donna, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, we have discovered yet another of thing for my list of shit I can't do."

Donna just laughed cheerfully, "You just need practice and help with it, here." She picked up another knife and handed it to him before standing right behind Gar, pressing herself into his back delicately. "Just throw it like this." She helped him move his arm in the proper throwing motion. " And let it go here." She said as they completed the throwing motion. "Got it?" Donna looked down at Gar, smiling as she asked.

"Uhm..yeah, give me a sec though." He stuttered out, returning the smile nervously. 'Just keep it cool,man. Star gets this close all the time. Rarely with the boobs pressing into your back though. Like big-FOCUS motherfucker! Just throw the knife, get it right and dig yourself out of this awkward situation.' He thought all of this as he breathed in, then out, and began to start up a throwing motion, Donna matching it.

"There ya go, move just like that." Donna said, maintaining cheer but Gar picked up a hint of...flirtatiousness? He dismissed it as he brought the knife to full swing.

"Garfield, can I talk to you for a minute?" Raven said as the door to the gym slid open.

In moments of intense stress, time always seems to slow down, allowing the brain to process every little detail. Raven took in the closeness of Donna to Gar, damn near pressing into him fully. She also noticed their looks of shock, though Donna's possessed a great deal more panic than Gar's. Gar and Donna took in the subtle details of Raven's face trying not to shift into an expression of full rage as red seemed to be slowly glowing from behind her eyes.

All three failed to notice the knife leave Gar's hand in the complete opposite direction of the target.

"SON OF A BISCUIT EATING MOTHER FUCKER!"

They snapped out of the moment to look at the source of the cursing, and owner of a knife imbedded into his left shoulder, Wally.

* * *

**A/N: The phrase "son of a biscuit eating motherfucker" fills me with so much joy it just may be unhealthy. It's the perfect mutated mid-western curse to me. I think I hassled just about everyone I knew with it for a week after it popped into my skull. Now, originally the Ball went on longer, had more characters and the like but then I realized I had no way to get out of what I was writing and frankly, it did nothing for the overall plot. If I find a way to get out of that corner, I have it saved off to my notes and I'll patch it in.**

**NEXT TIME: ...Shit, everything's kinda deviated from my notes since I first wrote them down. So I guess I'll just kinda wing it.**

**hrm.**

**Okay, got it;**

**NEXT TIME: Bonding time between the Stones goes south pretty damn fast in Metropolis; in Gotham Star and Robin have a run in with the Clown Prince of Crime and predictably, things don't go well; and Raven confronts the girls with their plan and Gar tries to piece together what happened.**

**Well that worked.**

**Alright, hope you enjoyed that, hope to see you next time and review, please. Keeps me motivated. Thanks for reading, y'all!**

Chapter title from: Foo Fighters  



	5. Chapter 5: Under Pressure

**A/N: Chapter 5 is here! okay, starting here, bulk of the notes are moving after the chapter, so yeah. Just wanted a note to tell you about the notes. Dog.**

**Impotant: I do not own Teen Titans. Duh.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Under Pressure**

**Jump City:**

"No, it's cool guys, just stare. I'm sure the knife will go away the longer you stare at it." Wally said irritably as Raven, Donna and Gar stared at the throwing knife that had ended up in his shoulder. Donna and Gar were a solid foot apart now as Raven continued to stand in the door.

"Okay, change of plans, Donna I need to talk to you, Gar, take Wally to the infirmary." Raven said quickly.

"Didn't you need to talk to me?" Gar asked, confused.

"That can wait. Donna, with me. Hall. Now." Raven pointed behind her with her thumb and left the door. Donna quickly joined her, looking incredibly uncomfortable but not willing to disagree with Raven in her current mood.

Gar leaned out of the door of the gym, "Are you sure you want me taking him to the infirmary?"

Raven turned around, eyes not entirely glowing red but the edges were there. "Fine." A weight from inside the gym was surrounded by black energy and lifted up, then flew into the side of Gar's head, almost knocking him over, "There, now you have a concussion. Go to the infirmary and take Wally with you."

"Sounds good." Gar groaned, rubbing the side of his aching skull.

Raven turned and continued down the hall, Donna walking silently next to her until they were out of earshot of the gym.

"I'm sorry." Donna kept a firm look on the floor as they walked.

"I know." Raven monotoned as they continued walking towards to bedroom areas.

"It wasn't my idea-" Donna began.

"I know." Raven interrupted as they stopped in front of Wally and Jinx's room, staring at the door intently before scoffing. "Damnit, she's hiding somewhere."

"How do you know?" Donna asked, confused slightly.

Raven raised an eyebrow at Donna while point at herself, "Empath. You radiate repentance and guilt. That and this isn't your kinda plan, no offense. You've always seemed to be more the straight forward type for everything." Raven stated clinically.

Donna just stared at Raven for a second, "I think Jinx said she was going to relax on the roof today, something about getting sun even though she doesn't tan."

Raven tilted her head at this, then look up towards the ceiling, eyes moving around before settling on a spot. "So it would seem." Her eyes glowed black before Donna and her were enveloped in a black bubble that went upwards.

Back at the gym area, Gar was sitting down on a bench for a moment, holding a cold water bottle to the side of his head as Wally sat next to him, relatively calm for a speedster with a knife sticking out of his shoulder.

"So, when can we go? I kinda want to get this out. Like. Now." Wally stated , disgruntled.

"Give me a second so I can make sure I'm not actually concussed. I wanna be able to get that out of your shoulder without fucking it up." Gar looked at Wally, "How are the eyes?"

"Green and piercing with a slight, emotional watery look to them." Wally grumbled.

"The pupils, jackass." Gar replied.

Wally sighed and checked. Oddly enough, one of the first things a Titan, or any hero for that matter, ends up learning is basic first aid. Mostly how to spot a concussion. "They look normal, man. I don't think she actually gave you a one."

"Had a feeling she didn't, the weight didn't actually connect, the energy did. Softened the blow. I wanted to make sure before we got moving. Alright, fastest grump alive, let's go." Gar stood up, still holding the bottle to his head as they walked exited and walked down towards the infirmary of the tower.

"You know what a concussion feels like on impact?" Wally asked, wincing due to his shoulder moving unconsciously as they walked.

"I'm the scrawniest member of my team, I constantly have to shift into various forms to try and not hurt people I get flung into and I try to flirt with Raven on a constant basis; yeah, being concussed is a familiar feeling, dude." Gar grumbled. "'Sides, what's with all your whining? You act like you've never been stabbed before."

"Kid Flash Fact; I haven't." Wally waved his right arm up in the air for dramatic effect as he said this, wincing at the movement. "Kinda always dodged or vibrated my molecules before something would stab at me."

"Yeah, don't move around so much, the back's muscle group is all interconnected, so any movement's just gonna remind your body there's something lodged in there." Gar said as they reached the infirmary room, door sliding open.

"You know way too much about being stabbed." Wally muttered.

"Similar reasons as before." Gar responded as he went to grab gauze and a vial of a greenish looking goo out of the supply cabinet.

Wally sat on the edge of one of the beds, raising an eyebrow at Gar, smirking "Even the Raven flirting?"

"_Especially_ the Raven flirting." Gar said flatly before taking a pain pill quickly before grabbing the stuff for Wally's back and setting it up behind him on the bed, before looking at the knife. "Hrm, how deep does it feel, man?"

"I wish that was the first time I've been asked that." Wally said quickly.

"I wish I could unlearn that." Gar said, wincing.

"Doesn't feel that deep, really. Also wish tha-" Wally started.

"Well there's a bone there, so that stopped it from getting in too far." Gar cut him off. A thought then hit him. "Hey, can you, like, locally vibrate molecules? Just around the shoulder area? It'll do less damage than just yanking it out."

Wally thought on it for a moment, almost shrugging before being reminded by pain how bad an idea it was, "Should be able to."

"Alright, after you do that, I'll slap some of the goop in the wound and patch it up. Should be good as new." Gar said calmly as he did his best to tear a hole in the uniform around the knife. The "goop" is the Titan term for the multipurpose green slime like substance in the vial. Developed by Dr. Midnight with input from various other scientists in the superhero community or connected to it, the goop acted as bandage, packing, disinfectant, healing accelerate and all around bad ass healing agent. Unfortunately, it took very long to make even small batches, so it's still only in reserve for League allies and world VIP's until Wayne Biotech can figure out how to mass produce it.

Wally winced as his shoulder vibrated and become semi transparent, allowing Gar to remove the knife effortlessly. Wally stopped the second it was out, and as fast as he could, Gar poured the goop lightly into the wound before putting the gauze on top. After Gar counted to ten, he removed it, looking at the wound's now dark green coating.

"All right, it's in." Gar smiled cheerfully.

Wally held up two fingers, "Two things. One, that hurt like hell. Two, this stuff feels really weird and I'm glad I heal fast to begin with." he grumbled.

"Oh yeah it does." Gar nodded as he put the vial back in the medicine cabinet.

"So what the hell was up with Raven's death glare to Donna?" Wally asked, finally able to think about everything beyond the knife that was in his shoulder.

Gar shrugged "Uhm, not entirely sure. Donna was teaching me to throw knives-"

"Poorly." Wally interjected.

"-and then Raven came in as Donna was like...really close." Gar thought back on it.

"Like...how close?" Wally tilted his head.

"Like I think if she was there any longer, my back could've checked her for breast cancer." Gar leaned on the counter behind him, raising an eyebrow.

"Damn. Wondered what she's been doing this past month." Wally looked up in thought.

"What has she been doing?" Gar asked with skepticism.

"Dude, think she was flirtin' with ya." Wally said calmly to Gar's look of confusion.

**On the Roof:**

Jinx was reclined on a beach chair, wearing a black and purple striped two piece, hands behind her head, wearing sunglasses despite the umbrella she had set up to block most of the sun.

"Could totally get used to this." She muttered to herself, getting ready to pass out for a nap.

That plan died when she felt a shift in energy around her and noticed two shadows standing over her. Jinx looked up to see a very angry Raven with a very sheepish Donna behind her. "Jig's up faster than I thought." She muttered to herself, before asking with a grin "Can we do this in, like, twenty minutes?"

Jinx's umbrella lifted up, crumpled up into a knot and was flung behind Raven off the roof.

"Or now. We can totally do this now." Jinx tried to keep her grin, but it was far more nervous now.

"Stand up, and get next to Donna." Raven near growled. Jinx did as she was told quickly. A black bubble encircled the three of them and in a blink they were in Raven's room.

Jinx shivered in the air conditioning."Why couldn't we stay on the roof?"

"If I'm going ask you two what the fuck you were thinking, I want it to be on my home turf." Raven explained tersely. "Now. What. The. _Fuck_. Were. You. Two. Thinking?!"

Donna shifted in her spot. "I was just trying to help, so was Jinx. It was her idea, though"

"Snitch." Jinx muttered.

"Lemme guess; make me jealous so I'd claim Beast Boy all on my own?" Raven asked with disgruntlement as she pinched the bridge of her nose with furrowed eyebrows.

"Uhm...yeah, actually." Jinx said, as she hugged herself for warmth.

"Do you have any idea how stupid that is?" Raven said, looking up with genuine concern.

"We're beginning to get one." Donna said calmly.

Raven sighed "Look...part of the problem with...all of this, is that lately...everything's been going a little...off with my powers. Mainly, in fact almost entirely focused around the..." she searched for the right words. "Gar ...thing."

"...Is that why you've been lashing out at him?" Donna asked softly, looking empathetic.

"...Yes...kind of. I haven't rooted that one out yet." Raven looked away as she said this, seeming to go quickly into thought, before starting up again. "But. Confusing as all of that is; trying to start competition is not the answer. The only thing that isn't confusing is that I..." she paused, gulped and the lights flickered above them for a minute, "I...do like him.", The lights settled, "Enough to where I'm really not sure what I'd do to the competition in my current state."

Jinx looked down awkwardly "...I'm...this is my fault, Raven."

"I know." Raven said darkly.

"And...I'm sorry. You should've opened up a bit about that, though." Jinx replied.

Donna nodded, "If I knew that, I would not have agreed to do this. I'll make it up to you, I swear."

Raven sighed again, looking at the two of them. 'Good to know they're sincere.' she thought. "...Thank you. Both of you. Now," the door opened. "I gotta meditate for a while, clear things up. It's time-of-girls tonight, and I want to be able to do that without blowing shit up." Raven smirked.

Jinx and Donna walked into the hall, Jinx still shivering slightly.

"Well, we're alive." Jinx said cheerfully "That's definitely in the better of the endgames for that plan that went in my head."

Donna sighed and looked at Jinx with a raised eyebrow "At least she forgives us. Now I'm gotta think up a way to make it up to them."

"Them?" Jinx tilted her head

"Raven and Gar."

"Ahh. Yeah. If you need help, lemme know. My plan, my amends to make as well." Jinx said with minor grumbling.

"I'll give you a heads up. Oh, go check on Wally, see if they got the knife out." Donna walked towards her room.

"Okay...wait. KNIFE?!" Jinx yelled as Donna's door closed.

**Infirmary:**

The two sat in silence, not noticing a crumbled piece of metal and cloth falling by the window.

"Why the fuck would she flirt with me?" Gar said, finally, very confused.

"Wait, you couldn't tell?" Wally asked skeptically.

"Well, I just thought she was being nice...and chatty...and kept leaning over while wearing her uniform which shows off, like, everything." Gar motioned at his chest, "But never really thought of it as flirting."

"...Man, if Raven liked you, I have no idea how you'd know. She is way more subtle." Wally shook his head.

"Luck." Gar said quickly.

"Man, luck only gets you so far. Some times you gotta pay attention-" Wally stopped, eyeing Gar suspiciously. "That was a fast answer."

Gar shrugged "Honest, right?"

Wally continued to eye him for a second then shrugged "That it is. You are hopeless, man."

"So what should I do about Donna, dude?" Gar asked in a slightly worried tone.

Wally smirked, "What, don't want to hook up with an amazon?"

"Not...really." Gar shrugged, "She's pretty, she's nice, she's just not..."

"Raven?" Wally's smile grew wider.

Gar's face went red, well as red as it gets, as there was a lull in the conversation. "Yeah."

"Dude, really, what've I been saying this entire month? Just ask her out. That simple." Wally said the last bit, pointing at Gar, who just stood there, lost in thought.

The door slid open with Jinx leaning in, looking around wide eyed then finding Wally and walking over towards him.

"Oh, hey, hon, I was just gonna tell ya-" Wally started cheerfully before Jinx punched him in the left shoulder, causing him to wince "What the hell, woman?"

"You get freakin' stabbed and you don't think to tell me right away?" Jinx grumbled at him.

"I was distracted by something! What was it? Oh yes, that knife that was in my damn shoulder." Wally replied sarcastically.

Gar began to edge out of the room as they continued to go back and forth.

"Well, excuse me for being worried!" Jinx yelled at him.

"Well, you are excused, Gar patched me up and it's all over with, thanks for catching up with the present, right Gar?" Wally turned to look at where Gar was originally and didn't see him. He did hear the door slide shut, though.

Jinx looked at the door. "Huh, scared him off."

"Took long enough." Wally said with a grin.

"Seriously." Jinx replied, before pouncing onto Wally, wrapping herself around him while pushing him down onto the bed, smiling widely before kissing him deeply, which he returned. She broke the kiss for a second and frowned "Seriously, try not to get stabbed again."

"I'll do my best., m'lady." Wally grinned, before they began making out again.

**Gotham:**

"It has been quiet this night." Starfire said as she hovered next to Robin, looking over in the opposite direction of him as he was perched on a water tower.

"Hrmm." was his only reply as he played with the radio scanner in his palm

"...It is too quiet for this city. It feels...a little off, does it not?" Star turned in Robin's direction as she asked.

"...Rumor is the Joker's back in town." He said after a minute. "Even if it's not true, just the rumor of it puts everyone on edge. Police, Criminals, us. It's always a bad feeling, like a calm before a storm."

"Would the criminal element not be pleased their leader is out?" Star asked, confused.

"Leader?" Robin turned and looked at her equally confused.

"Is he not? He's the most feared of the various crime lords here, one would assume he's their leader." Star said casually.

"That would work if it made sense. Gotham doesn't quite work that easily. The Joker's the best example of that. Sure, he has his gang, but other than that, the other bosses just stay out of his way. He's like a living wildfire; destroys everything around him. It doesn't matter to him as long as he gets a laugh." Robin explained bitterly.

"...In a way, he still runs them. They stay out of his way, and move around him. If he uses that to his advantage, does he not control their actions, albeit indirectly?" Starfire asked after a minute of thought.

Robin mulled it over as he glanced around the buildings. At one point he thought he saw a glint of light on a building a ways off. He hunched over a little more, quickly pulling out a pair on binoculars to look in the direction of the glint.

"What is it?" Star asked, looking ready to fly off if needed.

"Nothing, just thought...nothing." Robin quickly put the binoculars up before going back to the scanner. "I wonder if Batman put us over here because nothing's happening." Robin grumbled.

"...Well, if you want...we could _make _something happen..." Starfire said seductively.

"...Not...not on patrol, Star." Robin made sure not to look at her. Those eyes could be dynamite.

"But...it has been a few days, we have had so little time together...and no one would know..." Starfire floated closer to Robin, who maintained his stare forward.

"I would." A voice said in their ear pieces.

Both Star and Robin halted in their spots.

"O? Do you really have to listen to every conversation?" Robin said in a disgruntled tone.

"No, but it's fun." Oracle responded

"...She is the killer of the mood." Starfire folded her arms and pouted slightly.

"No, really, you two go on. Just pretend I'm not here." Oracle said cheerfully.

"...Yeah, that's...a little awkward." Robin muttered.

"Do you not have anything for us to do?" Starfire asked, trying her best to steer the conversation back to business, and hopefully get Oracle to go away.

"B and E about five blocks south at a jewelry sto-nevermind Huntress got it. Okay let's see...couple of Two-Face's people trying to get into a bank six blocks west for some reason...tried looks like Batman got to it. And it looked like there was a mugging going on but that seems to be a halted mugging and a murder thanks to Azrael. Uhm...well..nothing that I can see on my end that's nearby, guys. Sorry." Oracle said, frown almost audible.

"...This city possesses way too many kickers of the bad guy butt." Star said glumly.

Robin sighed. Looks like another long night...

**Jump City:**

Things had settled down in the tower a week after Wally's unintentional stabbing. The girls had settled into a calm peace between them. Donna and BB still chatted but with way less attempts on Donna's part to get his attention, for which Raven (and Beast Boy) were grateful. She was now actually going between her notes and BB's spot on the couch where he and Wally were mocking a bad movie. It had been too quiet in the city lately, Donna felt like she was missing something, so she had been digging into the notes.

"I'm telling you, something's not adding up." Donna grumbled as Gar flicked between the notes on the tablet and the TV " A week usually doesn't go by without some big villain attack here, let alone a month. Something bigger is going on."

"Well, we don't seem to have anything to go on for that theory. Someone or something's probably holding them back to have them attack at once or whatever." Beast Boy said way too casually, handing back the tablet.

Donna stared at his calm about the thought. "And...this doesn't bug you or anything?"

"No. It happened during the Brotherhood plots. The big thing they didn't predict was the people who just couldn't wait. There's always a couple who throw out the plan for some reason or another." Beast Boy waved his hand absent mindedly. "When they snap, we catch 'em, then see if they have anything for us." he completed casually.

Jinx looked up from her book, almost having dropped it. "When did you get this calculating?"

"Predatory instincts." Gar tapped his head. "I just use those with all the stuff I learned from Robin and working with the Titans and Doom Patrol." He leaned back on his spot on the couch, resting his feet on the coffee table, smiling.

"Huh, guess Robin wasn't entirely stupid to leave you in charge." Jinx mumbled as she went back to reading.

Beast Boy ignored the comment and turned back to Donna, "If you find any hints or anything pass them on, but right now, relax. Look, even Raven's relaxing."

"I _have_ to relax." Raven monotoned from her spot.

"Messing with my point." Gar replied quickly.

"Don't care." Raven turned a page in her book to emphasize her point.

Donna took this as a chance. "By the way, I thought of a way to make it up to you two."

"Make what up?" Gar said, confused.

"Don't worry about that." The three women said near simultaneously.

"Uhm...kay?" Gar's confusion lingered.

"I was thinking that I could treat you and Raven to dinner next Friday, as a good gesture." Donna stated this with her usual big smile.

Raven looked up at Donna, eyeing her suspiciously "I..I don't think that's a good idea."

"How is free food a bad idea?" Gar interjected.

"I'm just saying it would be a little uncomfortable if it's just the three off us. Maybe Wally and Jinx can come as well." Raven responded quickly.

"No can do, planned a date night then. The plans made and the money has already been spent." Wally stated as he stared at the screen.

"I don't see why it couldn't be a good time, free food, good company. C'mon Rae, doesn't sound too horrible, right?" Gar looked at Raven, shrugging.

"I just would rather not." Raven grumbled.

"Oh, why not? Good time out with people not on the Raven fun list?" Gar asked, hints of disgruntlement entering his tone.

"That's not it and you know it. I just think it wouldn't be prudent for us to go out to dinner." Raven stressed.

"How is going out to dinner with a friend 'not prudent'?" Gar asked, almost exasperated.

Donna watched them go back and forth, raising an eyebrow before looking at Jinx and Wally, who were also watching intently. She opened her mouth to say something but the alarms went off.

Beast Boy instantly stood up, near literally leaping at the chance to escape the conversation. He pressed a button on the control panel, which brought up a map of the city with two dots and camera windows. One had what looked like the front of a gym that had been crushed in, surrounded by police cars, the other kept flicking to different public street cameras of a man on a motercycle shooting at passing buildings and people wildly.

"Well, got your wish Donna, two of 'em. That's Johnny Rancid there." Gar pointed at the biker, before his hand moved over to the other image,"And if that's a gym, my best guess is Adonis." He said the name with a distinct level of growl.

"And the plan is...?" Wally asked calmly, having learned to wait for the plans.

"Two groups, Jinx and Wally, you two should be more than enough for Rancid, take out his bike and he's practically goon level. Donna, Raven and I will take Adonis." Beast Boy said calmly. "If you two finish up before us, we'll probably need a hand." Wally and Jinx nodded.

"Alright, let's go!" Gar said as they all scrambled to get moving.

**Metropolis:**

Admittedly, Dr. Stone was taken aback when Victor asked to tour S.T.A.R. Labs with him one day. Vic had been avoiding him the past few weeks and he had simply resigned himself to the fact that his son really didn't want to see him at all. But, Vic approached him to see the labs, and Dr. Stone quickly agreed.

Credentials to get him in weren't a problem. Being one of the senior scientists' sons would guarantee a special pass, but being a prominent member of the hero community gave him as close to full clearance an outsider could get. And if there was anything else he really wanted to see, he could simply drop a "Well, if you want, we can call up Kal, see if he thinks it's important." line, but both Vic and Dr. Stone doubted that would be necessary.

The visit itself went surprisingly smooth; Vic impressed a great deal of the staff with his knowledge of even some of the more advanced tech they worked on and what he didn't know already he quickly absorbed. He actually could talk to his dad about this, bond a little even.

"So do you actually have to keep all the alien tech separate?" Vic asked as they were moving down the halls.

"Most of it. Thanagarian tech and Rand tech seem to react negatively towards each other on instinct. We frankly keep the New Genesis and Apokoliptian tech locked up, too advanced and way too dangerous to even fumble with. Of course, Kryptonian tech seems the less instinctively out to kill us. Well mostly." Dr. Stone filled in.

"Mostly?" Vic raised an eyebrow.

"Brainiac?" Dr. Stone responded.

"Oh. Duh." Vic and his dad shared a laugh for a second, before something caught Vic's eye in a room they were passing. "What's in here?"

Dr. Stone frowned slightly, "In the work's project, not really that important-" Before he could get them to move on, Vic was already in the room.

The room was lined with computer screens and mechanical parts lining the room. Blueprints for various prosthesis parts of similar design to Cyborgs were on the screens, showing a progression of them tapering down, modified to be more conspicuous, and similar changes. Vic just stared, taking it in, mostly the fact that all the designs were based off of his own.

Dr. Stone sighed from the door, "Victor, before you say anything-"

"Was doing this to me not enough? Do you have to do this to other people now too?" Vic turned, not sure whether to be furious or cry.

"Victor-" Dr. Stone started.

"No, seriously, this is fucked up! Bad enough that you did this to your own goddamn son, but planning to do this to other people, too, is sick. Why would you want more people to look like this?! To _be_ like this?!" Cyborg motioned at himself.

"That's not the intent, we've parred it down since your designs were done-" Dr. Stone started.

"Oh, so I'm just the prototype?! Just the flawed design, so maybe you can do better next time?!" Cyborg accused.

"Victor, would you listen for one damned second?!" Dr. Stone yelled. A silence fell between them, but Vic continued to glare at his father. Dr. Stone breathed in before explaining, "Yes, we are developing prosthetics based off your designs. But to help disabled veterans and others. Nothing else. I chose to use you as the base because you have adapted extremely well to your...enhancements."

"Is that what this is? An enhancement?" Vic asked bitterly.

"No, it was man's desperate attempt to save the only family he had left." Dr. Stone said sadly. Vic stared, anger fading as his father seemed to shrink in front of him as he continued, "I couldn't save your mother, Victor. I wish I could have but I was too late. I promised her I wouldn't loose you. And then...when I almost did, I...I did what I knew to do. It may not have been right, it may not have been ethical, but I...I couldn't loose you, son."

Victor looked at his father...feeling like for the first time since he received his prostetics. He was so angry for so long...it just never occurred the reasons. Maybe he was just too young when it happened, maybe he was simply too wrapped in himself...or maybe he just couldn't relate until now. Now he could see where he was coming from, he knew what it was like to want to do anything for his family. And for the first time, he looked at his father, this frail man in front of him, and understood.

"Dad...I...I'm...sorry." Vic stuttered out.

"It's okay, son." Dr. Stone said quietly.

Another silence fell over them, and Vic looked around the room absentmindedly, trying to find something to distract his mind from the guilt of years of hating someone who didn't deserve it. As he looked, his eye caught on a schematic on the wall.

"...You do realize that power supply being placed near the base of the arm would shock the hell out of user, right?" Vic said pointing at one of the screens.

Dr. Stone blinked, and looked at the blueprint. "We figured that, but couldn't think of a better place to put it. The supply just doesn't seem to fit anywhere else."

"Well, then get a different supply, there has to be something that provides the same amount of power that's a better shape. Or maybe use, like a series of batteries to..."

The two quickly fell into improving the designs, the previous conversation still fresh in their minds but a great deal of weight was gone from both mens' shoulders.

**Jump City:**

Beast Boy, Raven and Wonder Girl arrived at the scene at the gym, noticing that the police had not moved in yet. The sergeant from the Dr. Light incident approached them before they got too close to the perimeter.

"Thank god, people who can actually handle the psycho." He said to them calmly. "Forgot to introduce myself last time, Sergeant Fredricks, JCPD Metacrimes." Sgt. Fredricks shook Beast Boy's hand.

"So what happened here? What caused Adonis to snap this time?" Beast Boy asked calmly.

"Far as I can tell, it was kinda provoked. Kinda. We have video of him going in to work out without the suit initially but it looks like some of the regulars gave him shit when he was trying to lift weights. Think the exact transcript said something to the effect of..." The sergeant held up his phone that had the notes on it, " "Bro, do you even lift?"...hrm...anyways, after this he stormed out, came back with the suit on annnd that was about 15 minutes ago." he finished.

"Any deaths?" Donna asked.

"Well the two guys who gave him shit are dead, beat them with a barbell. He's just been in there ever since, seems intent on holding the place with hostages until...well, dunno. I'm not sure he thought out that far." Sgt. Fredricks said, scratching the back of his head slightly.

"Adonis has never really been a thinker." Raven said dully.

"We'll take it from here, thanks officer." Beast Boy said in his best "official voice". The three started walking towards to hole in the building and as they got out of earshot of the cops, Beast Boy smiled widely, "I've always wanted to say that."

"Dork." Raven monotoned.

"So, anything I should know about Adonis?" Wonder Girl asked as they got closer.

BB sighed "Wears a big suit to make up for lack of muscle, but the thing's connected in a neural link, so damage to the suit-"

"-he feels." Donna completed. "Sounds easy enough."

"Trick is damaging the suit, damn thing's tough." Beast Boy added.

"Also the suit acts as a testosterone boost for him, so...be prepared to deal with oodles and oodles of machismo" Raven said bitterly.

"Fair enough." Wonder Girl said as they walked through the hole in the wall.

The gym was a wreck, some equipment completely destroyed, either bent into pieces or thrown to the side. They quickly spotted the two men who had died, or what was left of them in the craters in the floor and Adonis himself was easy enough to find.

"You neglected to mention the suit was three meters high." Wonder Girl said dryly.

"Always seems smaller in hindsight." BB frowned.

"Wonder how many people have said that about him." Raven noted dryly getting a smirk out Donna and snicker from Gar.

As they got closer, they could hear Adonis talking to the hostages; "Alright, this is how it's gonna go, puny guys, and I mean all of you, are gonna be bullet shields while I get these ladies out of here for the party at my place. And there's gonna be a hell of a party." He said, looking at the women lecherously.

The second Wonder Girl heard this, she picked up her walk ahead of the others. Beast Boy went to catch up but Raven grabbed his shoulder.

"We should probably stand back for this one." Raven smiled darkly, seeing the anger rolling off Donna in waves.

**Jump City: Other side of town**

Johnny Rancid was having a blast. People were getting out of his way or getting killed, things were blowing up. All in all, good day. "Fuck those brotherhood guys, this is where it's at!" He yelled, shooting wildly at a passer by.

"I prefer ping pong, but hey, we all gotta have hobbies." Came from next to him.

Johnny turned to point his gun in the direction of the voice but didn't see anyone.

"Did you buy this bike or build it, man?" The voice said on the other side of him.

"Built it myself, shit eat-" Johnny pointed the gun in the other direction, again, at no one.

"Oh, good, because I was gonna say that you should _really_ get your money back. Thing looks like shit." The voice said, this time he turned his head enough to catch Kid Flash running next to him.

"I'm gonna shoot the sparks out of yer yellow ass, motherfu-" Johnny went to shoot but again, Kid Flash moved to the other side of him.

"Seriously, that muffler sounds like it's broken all to hell. And what's with that engine? Didn't they discontinue those for a reason? Don't get me started on the frame set up. The fact that this doesn't catch on fire all the time is a goddamn miracle." Kid Flash taunted, dodging shots fired by an increasingly agitated Johnny. "Okay, well, I'm gonna go. Good luck catching me with that bike. Because, really, it sucks." With that, he ran forward.

"I'M PUTTIN' YOUR FUCKIN' HEAD ON THE FRONT OF MY FUCKIN' BIKE!" Johnny roared as he began to speed after Kid Flash.

"Gotta catch me first!" Kid Flash smiled back at him while running, giving a one finger salute. This garnered another roar of agitation and dodged blaster shot.

**Gotham:**

The patrol was routine so far. Busted a drug deal with Batman before they split for their separate halves of the patrol. Robin and Starfire were in the middle of finishing up with a couple of would be muggers when Oracle sent an a emergency buzz over the radio, meaning it was broadcasting to everyone on the network in Gotham.

"Everyone, you might want to listen to this..." She said sternly before playing a recording of a man, older, voice filled with panic.

"This is Officer Daniels-I-ohshitohshit..." He started before the dispatcher interrupted him.

"Officer Daniels, what's going on?"

"Confirmed sighting of the Joker, near my location on...shit, I think O'Neil and Timm, just burst outta the fucking store front, goons an all. He got Ted-Officer Harris off the bat, and I-"

Another voice cut him off, darkly joyful, near laughing the entire time he spoke "There's our missing piggy!"

"Oh shit-" Was all he got out before a sound of aerosol went off and Officer Daniels began coughing, coughs slowly turning into intense, forced laughter after which the recording cut off.

"So, the rumors be true it seems." Oracle said to the small silence.

"How long ago was that call in?" Batman growled over the comms.

"Five minutes, tops." Oracle replied.

"Batman, we're right near there, not even a block out, we can-" Robin started.

Batman cut him off "No. Stay put until I get near by. It'd be an unnecessary risk-"

"Risk?! I have a super powered alien girlfriend with me, experience fighting the Joker, and the element of surprise, and you're telling me there's a risk?" Robin yelled back.

"With the Joker, there's always risk. Stand. Down." Batman growled in response.

"I'm not letting him slip away, any more time we argue means more people die." Robin growled back before cutting off their connection to Oracle's comms. He turned and looked at a worried Starfire, "Let's go."

"...Are you sure we should not wait? He seemed intent on-" Star began.

"Trying to keep me out of harms way? In Gotham? While I wear a Robin uniform? Not going to happen, Joker or no. Let's get going." Robin said bitterly, shooting a grappling line towards where the transmission was sent out. Starfire hesitated for a second, then flew after him.

**Jump City: Destroyed Gym**

Wonder Girl walked up behind Adonis, stopping about five feet from him and crossed her arms over her chest, before coughing to get his attention.

"Eh?" Adonis turned fully to look at her, suit shaking the surrounding area slightly as he did so. He let out a low whistle, eyeing her up and down. " Well, what do we have here?"

"I'm only going to say this once, let them go and I may just leave your suit mostly intact." Wonder Girl's voice was cold as she glared at his eyes, which were glued at her chest.

"Tell you what, you come with me, and I'll let all of these other chicks go." Adonis said, raising an eye brow and grinning.

"They're going to be let go regardless, I was simply giving you an out before I beat the crap out of you." Wonder Girl replied calmly, starting to walk towards him. "And stop looking at my chest."

"They're lookin' at me, babe, so why don't you chill out an give me a-" He went to reach at her before she caught the large robotic hand quickly, staring Adonis right in the eyes before twisting the hand off the suit.

Raven and Beast Boy both winced at the yelp of pain Adonis gave.

"That's gonna leave a mental scar." Raven commented dryly.

"So's that." Beast Boy added as a dull thunk rang through the area as Donna kicked a solid dent into the groin plate of the suit before going into full beat down mode.

Beast Boy took the moment to look over at Raven, "So what the hell is she trying to make up to us for?"

"Why do you think I know?" Raven deflected, continuing to watch as a now legless Adonis tried to crawl with the one good mech arm before Wonder Girl lassoed the center torso and threw him into a wall roughly.

"Figured the reaction in the common room earlier meant something." Beast Boy raised a brow at her, ignoring the dull thumps of Adonis being flung into the remaining walls as he signaled for the hostages to move towards the former door, now that Adonis was...out of the way.

"How about we talk about this when we're not surrounded by people who are scared shitless? It's distracting." Raven grumbled as she gave a thumbs up to the police as the hostages began filing out of the gym.

"Excuses." Beast Boy grinned at her.

"Me? Never." Raven said wryly, almost smirking before looking up and motioning everyone to get down as Donna threw Adonis out of the gym and into the clear area of road in front of the cop cars.

The now torso base of the mech skidded to a halt before the hatch popped open and spit the intact, gangly Adonis onto his back on the pavement. He groaned as all the neuroconnectors on his skin suit smoked, burnt out from the beating Wonder Girl gave him. He opened his eyes to see the three titans standing over him.

"Wonder Girl give you a good time?" Raven asked, smirking.

"Must have, motherfucker's speechless." Beast Boy added as he hunched down over Adonis' face grinning widely.

"What can I say? I know what boys like." Wonder Girl beamed, putting her hands on her hips.

"Urggh..." Adonis groaned before passing out.

**Jump City: Across town.**

Jinx leaned up against a light pole, tapping away at a game on her phone in a bored manner. She looked up when she began to hear a low rumble of a motorcycle. "Well, I suppose it's time to go to work." She put the phone in her pocket and stretched lightly, putting her hands over her head as she did so.

Jinx looked over at the street and then snapped her fingers, causing a wave of pink energy to go completely across the road, forming a small ditch. She frowned slightly, before snapping her fingers again, sending a bigger wave to make a bigger, deeper ditch in the road. She grinned widely. "That'll do."

As she said that, she saw a yellow blur leap over the ditch before circling around towards her. Kid Flash leaned on the light pole that she had been on a moment ago, smiling at her. "Miss me?"

"You wish." Jinx stuck out her tongue.

Johnny rode by, looking over just in time to see the two of them standing on the side of the road as his front tire hit the ditch. As he went into accident vision, he looked over as Jinx and Kid Flash waved at him before he and his bike fully flipped the hole. Johnny hit the ground with a dull thunk, slightly cut up but mostly unharmed as his bike skidded to a halt down the road. He groaned, getting ready to get up before a red boot hit his chest, causing him to glare up, seeing Jinx's hand in a gun shape, glowing with energy pointed at his face.

"Didn't your mommy teach you not to ride without a helmet?" Jinx asked playfully.

"It might explain a few things about his hobbies, actually." Kid Flash added.

Johnny growled as he laid his head back down. "God fuckin' damnit."

"Hey, language, mister." Kid Flash said sternly as police cars rolled up, well one did the other got caught in the ditch.

"The hell?" The cop said as he got out of his stuck car.

Kid Flash looked at the nice, blue sky as Jinx whistled innocently.

**Gotham:**

The Joker and his six goons were going down the road calmly, as if they owned the street.

"Boss, why don't we have a car?" One of the goons asked, somewhat confused.

"My good man, I just spent months in eastern Europe. It was lovely, war torn bit here, left overs from an ethnic cleansing here. Even visited Auschwitz. That was hilarious." The Joker said with a giggle, "The first thing I want to do now that I'm home is walk the streets. Is that so wrong?" He asked this last part laced with menace.

"Uh, no sir." The goon said quickly.

"Didn't think so." Joker said calmly. "Now, hand me a cocktail, I'm feeling in a celebratory mood!" He laughed wildly as another goon casually handed him a lit Molotov cocktail, which he threw at a building, through a window. A woman's scream came from the apartment that quickly caught on fire. "AND A GOOD NIGHT TO YOU TOO, MA'AM!" Joker yelled at the window, cackling madly. His laugh was cut short as he noticed a poof of fire extinguisher fume come from the window. "Awww..."

Robin burst through the window, flying out and deftly landing on a goon, knocking him unconscious.

"Didn't I-?" Joker looked at him for a second, before grinning again. "Oh no wait, it's the first bird isn't it? How've you been?!" Joker threw his arms open, dropping the loot he was holding.

Robin glared at the Joker, punching a goon who had try to come up behind him without looking.

Joker frowned slightly "Look at you, all grown up and serious. Lemme guess, the Bat's been on your case since your replacement...well had a run in with a crowbar. And a bomb. And a collapsing warehouse." The held in laugh burst out, causing Joker to lean on the large goon to his side, fist hitting the chest of the goon. He breathed in slowly, and sighed "Ahhhh...kill 'em."

The remaining four ran at Robin, including the large one. The first two goons instantly got hit in the face by a bow staff, the third being hit in his groin, causing him to drop like a sack of bricks. Robin twirled the staff, spinning it behind him to catch the goon who had tried to sneak up on him earlier in the legs when he was trying to stand up. The two goons who took the first staff hits came at him from either side, one armed with a pistol, the other pulling a knife. Instinctively, Robin struck the man with the gun first, breaking his hand with his staff before hitting him across the face quickly, sending him down. He deftly dodged the knife swings, tilting his head slightly before hitting the man's foot with his staff, causing the goon to hop back. Robin pressed the staff on ground, using it to jump up and kick the knife goon in the chest and his back into a building. Winded, he toppled over, leaving Robin to stare down the big goon coming at him.

Joker laughed as he watched, pulling out a rubber chicken from underneath his coat. "Use a bird on the bird, dunno why this didn't occur to me earlier." He giggled before feeling himself swept up into the air, face confronted with a pair of green glowing eyes.

"Do not dare attempt to attack him with your falsified poultry!" Starfire glared while lifting the Joker a solid fifty feet into the air and climbing.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Joker nervously chuckled. He looked down then up at Starfire, beaming. "So it would seem that big bird's got himself a bit of a partner, eh? Flower for the lady?" Joker's hand dived under his coat, and the flower on his lapel spewed acid at Star's face, causing her to yelp and drop him.

Robin looked up, standing on the unconscious big goon, wide eyed. "STARFIRE!" He yelled, grappling a line up to catch her as she fell. He passed the Joker on his way up, who was cackling all the way down. Robin grumbled with himself for a second before sending a boa line after him. He swung up and caught Star, landing on the roof of a lower building as he did so.

Roughly at the same time, the boa hit Joker's legs, as another line shot out and wrapped around a light pole, causing him to hang upside from there. He stopped giggling after a minute to notice he had stopped about an inch from the ground. He let out a disappointed, chuckling groan, "Awwww..."

On the roof, Robin held Starfire for a moment. "Star, you okay?" He asked nervously

Star sat up, moving her hair out of her face to reveal the seemingly minor blemish the acid had caused. "I am unharmed, it just caught me off guard." She smiled softly.

Robin looked at her and let out a relieved sigh. Then he looked down her. "Uhmmm."

"What is it-oh." Starfire's face went a little red. The acid had not affected her much, but her clothes were a different story, her top was about half gone. Robin calmly took off his cape and handed it to her, which she put on quickly before looking over the edge of the building. "It appears that Batman is here, along with a group of the law enforcement."

"Joy." Robin said moodily as they went down to street level.

"...but Bosnian authorities assures us they do not know how he got out." Commissioner Gordon explained to Batman as Robin and Star landed nearby. He looked at the two, before smiling at Robin and Starfire. "Good job, son, ma'am. Got him fast, and caught a fire before it broke out fully."

Robin smiled at the praise, while Batman's face remained flat. He gave Robin the "We're having a talk when we get home." look.

"Wait, wait, everyone's here, I can hand out the souvenirs!" Joker yelled out, shaking himself lightly, causing all sorts of objects to fall from. One them was a gun that fired a pointed flag with "BANG" written on it, which unfortunately jabbed a cop's leg. The officer cried out in shock which caused Joker to giggle. "Oops, heeheehee. Oh well, okay, Gordon, that shower head's for you. It's from Auschwitz. Wasn't sure what to get you, so hard to shop for, but I figured something that tricked so many people would fit. Bats, the crowbar with the bow is for you. It's not _the_ crowbar mind you, lost it in the explosion, shame I know. And bird boy, wasn't sure if you'd be here but I got you that shattered tea cup. Seemed like your thing."

The Joker cackled as Batman and Robin's eyes narrowed at him, while the commissioner rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses.

"Someone **_please_** tell me that Arkham truck is here." Gordon said, disgruntled.

**Jump City: Wrecked Gym.**

Kid Flash ran up to the other three Titans, holding a frazzled Jinx in his arms. They were wrapping up chatting with the police, getting everything wrapped up on their end. As Beast Boy shook Sgt. Fredricks' hand, Kid Flash put Jinx down, who instantly began to adjust herself back to a less disheveled state.

"How'd it go for you two?" BB said, turning to them after the sergeant walked off to help the police wrap everything up.

"Pretty simple. I used the old 'piss him off into a trap' routine." Dumbass fell for it." Kid Flash said cheerfully.

"Ahem." Jinx said, arms folded.

"Jinx helped." Kid Flash said quickly.

"Thank you." Jinx smiled.

"Yeah I wish I could say me and Rae did anything this time, but Wonder Girl decided to take lead and, well..." Beast Boy thumbed in the direction of the gym, were a few officers were working together to pick up on the arms from the mech, and another five were carrying a leg, the rest of the pieces being thrown into the back of a large truck.

Kid Flash let out a low whistle. Jinx continued to grin, looking at Wonder Girl. "Have fun?"

"Eh, it was okay." Wonder Girl said with a smile. "Wish he had lasted a bit longer, but he's only a man, what can you do?"

"Sooooo uh, what's the plan now? Celebratory pizza?" Kid Flash asked awkwardly.

"I'm down, ladies?" Beast Boy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sounds good." Jinx smiled.

**Gotham: The Batcave**

"If you ever pull anything that reckless again, you are off patrol for a week!" Bruce growled at Dick, who simply glared, holding his ground. They had gotten into it the second they had gotten back to the cave, and that was half an hour ago.

"Reckless? I stopped an apartment fire, and took out the Joker with six goons in ten minutes! That lady would have been dead if I didn't get there when I did, who knows who else would be too if I hadn't shown up when I did!" Dick yelled back.

"You rushed in, both of you, if you had planned it for more than a second-" Bruce began to retort.

Dick cut him off, "Don't yell at Kori for this, it was my call, anything that went bad goes on me."

"You are not in charge of a team right now, you are working independently, both of you are responsible for your actions on the field." Bruce said coldly.

"No, I'm not working independently, I can't do a god damn thing without you saying your word on it. Again! Why did I come back here?! I knew this is all that would happen." Dick growled in agitation.

Bruce's eyes narrowed. "Then why did you come back?"

"Good fucking question." Dick growled as he stormed towards one of his old bikes, kicking it on and zooming out of sight, leaving Bruce and Kori staring at the smoke trail left behind.

**Jump City: Titan's Tower.**

It was the day after the two pronged attack from Johnny Rancid and Adonis. Jinx was reading on the couch, Wally's head in her lap, staring at the TV. Donna was reclining on another end of the couch, flicking through notes on the tablet in an idle manner. Raven was floating in meditation in front of the windows.

Gar had woken up later than the others, of course, and was cleaning up after his mess from cooking and eating. Afterward, he started to walk towards the couch, then looked at Raven, then at the couch. Donna happened to look up to catch this, looking Gar in the eye before nodding her head in Raven's direction with a smile. Gar frowned, and shook his head for a minute. Wally sat up from his spot, having seen Donna look over, and glared at Gar and pointed in Raven's direction before lying back down.

Gar sighed, and tried to relax his brain as he went to stand behind Raven. He stood, waiting a solid five minutes before she lightly floated down to the floor.

"Is there any particular reason you were staring at me today or is this just the usual 'because I can'?" Raven laced the question with sarcasm as she stood up, turning to look at a very nervous, uncomfortable Garfield.

He did his best to slip into his confident jokester mode, "A little of column A, a little of column B." Gar said with a grin.

Raven rolled her eyes and began to walk past him before he initially held out his hand to stop her. She stopped and near jumped away from the contact, so he put the hand down in an awkward motion. "What?" Raven was annoyed now.

"Well...at the pizza joint yesterday, Donna and I were talking-"

"I noticed." Raven's eyes flickered to the couch, where Donna, Jinx and Wally went back to pretending to be doing something other than watching.

"And well, I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind if, well if-" Gar breathed in and out for a second. "I was wondering if you'd like to go to dinner, just the two of us. Donna is still willing to pay, but she said it might make you comfortable."

Silence hung in the air. Raven's hood had already been up but her hands instinctively reached back for it, before realizing it had been up and then disappeared under the cloak again. "So...just the two of us? Like...like a date?" The lights above them fizzled off and on, one or two popping.

"Well, if you wouldn't mind, yeah. It'd be a date." Gar said calmly, face red.

* * *

**AN: Alright, first the few review responses I wanna do:**  
**JOHNXGambit/Ejammer: You know, I don't know when exactly Wally turned into my story's physical comedy bitch, but he's mostly been a good sport about it.**

**LurkingShadowWillow: As you can see, the Donna-Gar thing didn't really go anywhere between them at least. Also; Man avoid the "g" word, might start to think I'm good at this or something.**

**ravenandbb4ever: The well written part is one part...well luck, and one part being married a grammer nazi wife who reads over my chapters.**

** Very helpful. Chapter length just keeps seeming to happen. o_o Like, I just want to get certain plot points per chapter, and more points get added per chapter soooo yeah. Seems to have topped off at about 9,000+ per chapter though.**

**All Right; So now here comes kinda something I didn't realize I was doing until now; no Next Times for the rest of the fic. I feel like it'd be showing too much of my hand at the moment. If you know the tropes, you can probably guess what's gonna happen, but meh. Most I'll do is put the song title for the next chapter. On that, I actually added which bands did which song for the chapter titles if you're curious to look up the music that inspired something for the chapter.**  
**For this chapter; Under Pressure; by David Bowie and Queen**

**Read, review, and enjoy and I'll see you next time! Thanks, Y'all!**

**Next Chapter: Schism By Tool.**


	6. Chapter 6: Schism

**A/N: Full notes post chapter.  
NOTICE: A shocker it may be, but I don't own Teen Titans. Let that sink in, lawyer named Steve in the Warner Building.  
(If there actually is a lawyer there named Steve who sees that note, he's _really_ freaked out right now.)  
**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Schism**

**Jump City:**

The silence hung in the air again. The longer it dragged, the mood seemed to become heavier. Jinx picked up on it first, her expression becoming slightly worried. Donna seemed to get the same feeling, but her face remained flat with a slight frown. Wally was a bit slow in picking up on it but caught on fast the second Raven responded.

"No." Raven had bowed her head slightly, hiding her eyes completely, and she seemed to become mostly cloak.

"What?" Gar blinked, the word seeming to hit him in slow motion.

"I said, no. I don't want to go on a date with you. Ever." Raven kept her head bowed, but what could be seen of her face was in a severe frown.

"...Well, why not?" Gar sounded more angry than hurt.

"Why would I?" Raven spat, "You have nothing to offer me, all you do is bother, pick and annoy. You have nothing to contribute."

"Nothing to-What stupid kind of reason is that?" Gar's voice raised slightly. "What, so I'm not good enough, that's the reason?"

"A simple variation, but yes." Raven replied flatly.

"What, is it because I'm not smart enough for you? I don't read as much as you? Maybe because I enjoy actually being around people instead of ignoring them all the time, even when they're supposed to be friends." Gar retorted.

"I don't need people to be happy, Garfield." Raven responded darkly.

"No, you don't need anyone, you just live in your own, moody little bubble that you pray doesn't get burst. God help us if you find out there are other people in the world." Gar said sarcastically.

"That's not what I meant. What I intended was to say that I'm not so fucking pathetic that I need to dredge attention from every person in a room to get an ounce of self confidence." Raven lifted her head up enough to glare at Gar from underneath the hood.

Gar's eye twitched. "I enjoy making people laugh, yeah not the best thing to do, but it sure as hell beats trying to hide myself away, scared of even a little affection from anyone."

"I'm not scared of affection." Raven's tone was still hardened, but faltered slightly.

"Oh than it's just the source? What, should I cover myself in fucking _paper_?" Gar growled lowly.

The other three on the couch winced, the lights dimmed and a fizzing sound came from the kitchen, possibly the microwave. Raven's eyes flickered red for a second. "I'm surprised you even want to try. What, the stone blonde still unresponsive?" Raven's tone was cold.

"More responsive than you. At least she cared about people. You only seem to care about yourself. You keep making that abundantly clear." Gar said lowly.

The air grew cold as Raven continued to glare at Gar, who held his ground with his own glare.

"Guess you're just a daddy's girl." Gar muttered.

Raven's glare went full red, and Jinx felt the shift in energy in the room, and tried to call out,"Raven, don't-"

It was a bit late. Gar was lifted up and slammed into the glass of the bay windows by a black tendril that materialized from under Raven's cloak. Like most high buildings, the glass was shatter proof, which is made of layers and layers of glass. It cracked deeply across the pane as Gar hit, then fell to the ground, unresponsive. Instantly, the tendril disappeared, it's work done.

Everyone just stared, Raven included. Without a word, she turned and quickly disappeared into the halls and out of sight. Donna went to get up to go after her but Jinx put a hand on her arm, shaking her head.

"Now would not be a good time." Jinx said simply. She looked over at Wally, who was already looking over Gar. "How is he?"

"Dunno, I can't tell if he's knocked out or not." Wally said as he hunched over to look at Gar.

"I'm awake just in a great deal of pain." Gar said, eyes still closed, looking like he was trying his best not to cry.

"Emotional, physical?" Wally waved his hand with the question.

"Bit of both at the moment. Did Raven run out?" Gar asked, standing up, leaning on the splintered glass as he did so.

"She did, but dude, sit down and rest a minute." Wally replied.

Gar stretched for a second, slight popping noises heard as he did so before walking with a slight limp out of the room, in the direction Raven went. The others just watched him leave, unable to think of what to do or say.*

"...When did we become bad people?" Donna asked calmly, frowning.

"Technically, I've always been bad people." Jinx said dryly.

"You know what I mean, it's just...it seems like when we try to help them it backfires, and this shit happens." Donna grumbled, motioning at the door with her arm.

"Look, there has to be more going on between them. I have a hard time thinking this was all just about a date rejection." Wally said as he leaned on the window, sitting up in a blur as it gave a small crinkling noise. There was a long pause as everyone thought on the words.

"...Well, should we call the others to get an idea of where to begin to fix this?" Jinx asked casually. They had been keeping in contact with Robin, Star and Cy to both keep them updated on the going ons in the tower and more Cy after the initial failed attempt by Jinx and Donna. His advice seemed to be particularly helpful, well usually. The dinner thing was his idea.

Wally sighed. "I'll go ahead and call call Vic, see what he'll think. Donna, try and get a hold of Dick and Kori. Jinx?" Jinx looked at him intently as he held the most serious face he could. "Call Uncle Barry, he'll know why."

"Wait, why do I have to call _your_ Uncle?" Jinx asked confused.

"...Uhm. I uh..." Wally stuttered.

"What did you do?" Jinx crossed her arms, tapping her foot.

"Look, it's not important, just, please call Uncle Barry for me?" Wally held up his hands in a praying motion and strained a smile.

Jinx sighed before walking off. "Fine, but you owe me big time."

"Thank you, I know, thank you!" Wally said cheerfully. He took out his communicator and rang up Cyborg, grateful for not talking to his uncle for the moment.

**Metropolis:**

Cyborg woke up to the buzzing of his communicator on the desk. He had decided to take a nap at the labs, having become very engrossed in the prostetics project with his father. He had almost forgotten to recharge the other day.

But not today. Cy sat up from the small puddle of drool, wearily looking for the communicator with his arm as an emergency power cord zipped back into him from a power outlet. Finally finding it, he set flipped it open, keeping his leaning position on the desk.

"Mrmello." Cy mumbled as he stared at Wally on the screen.

"Hey, Vic, uhm...we got a kinda...situation over here..." Wally said nervously.

"Situation?" Cy yawned.

"Yeah well...it's...hrm." Wally seemed at a lose for words.

"Is anyone dead?"

"No."

"Is the tower destroyed?"

"Not that either."

"Forgot to feed Silkie?"

"Haven't seen 'em today but no, food's out."

"Raven and Gar get into a spat?"

"N-Yes, that's the one." Wally said quickly.

Cyborg raised his eyebrow, having expected this. "How bad?"

"It ended with Gar calling her a "daddy's girl" and she near broke the shatter proof glass in the common room with him." Wally responded flatly.

Cyborg winced and let out a low whistle, "And what triggered all of this?"

"The date plan." Wally grumbled.

Cyborg blinked then stared at the screen. "You're shittin' me."

"God's honest, man. BB asks her out, she says no, and it snowballed from there straight into hell." Wally stated with calm disgruntlement.

"Hold on, lemme see real quick." Cyborg started to kind of stare off into space.

"What do you mean 'see'?" Wally tilted his head, confused.

"I'm still connected to the Tower's security frame, got camera's with microphones throughout the place." Cy winced as he watched the argument go full tilt.

"...All the rooms?" Wally asked nervously.

"Only the main public areas. And seriously? Thanks for cleaning the infirmary, that's supposed to be a sterile environment, jackass." Cyborg grumbled.

"You are the creepiest land lord ever." Wally's face tinged red, scrunching it uncomfortably.

"You two still aren't as bad as Dick and Star." Cyborg said as the fight wrapped up and he let out a low whistle as he watched Gar hit the window. "Damn, and he still got up from that. String bean's stronger than he thinks."

"A) I really, really don't want to know about Dick and Star, B) Why do you want us to update you if you can see what goes on all the time?" Wally asked, more confused.

"A) Motherfucker, I didn't want to know. I do, but I didn't wanna know, B) I like hearing from you guys and I trust y'all enough not to check all the time, just when little warnings go off in my sensors. Too much movement and such. Example; infirmary." Cy raised an eyebrow.

"Ah." Wally said simply, looking down in thought for sec before looking back up quickly. "Hey, can you track where those two went?"

"Raven locked herself in her safe room, it was initially built to keep out her father but it's kinda become where she goes when she needs to...let off some steam." Cy stated before frowning. "Oh, man Rae, why didn't you tell us." He said more to himself than to Wally, continuing to watch the footage. "Good on ya, green bean. Gar went to go talk to her...and...damn." Vic sighed. "She chased him off. He's probably out on the rocks, staring off into space. Give Raven another hour or two before talking to her, but Gar's usually good around any time. He doesn't brood well." Cyborg wrapped up calmly.

"Alright, I'm just gonna wait for my back up, I'll let you know what happens. Also, How in the name of fuck do I fix the window?" Wally turned to look out at the bay, staring at the large cracks.

"You don't, it'll fix itself. Auto repair nanomachines in the glass. Really useful." Cy smiled, thumbing up at the camera.

"You get bored a lot, don't you?"

"All the time." Vic cut off the communicator with a sigh. 'Might have to cut this short soon, Rae and Gar might need me there to mediate.' He then lingered on the camera's for a bit, before closing the windows in his internal browser. 'Or not.'

**Jump City:**

Wally hung up the communicator, looking back at a confused Donna. "What's up?"

"Kori...said Dick was out then hung up." Donna's eyebrows were furrowed, still processing the moment.

"...Kori? Starfire? Nicest alien this side of Metropolis, hung up on someone, let alone a friend?" Wally's confusion sunk into his own facial expression.

"Yeah..." Donna frowned. "It's not a good day, is it?"

"Probably not, no." Wally confirmed.

**Gotham:**

Kori had put down the communicator and decided to go back down the the cave after changing out of her ruined uniform. It had been at least six hours and there was no word from Dick. Needless to say, she was getting worried. And angry. Really, really angry.

As she walked down the hall, Alfred, who simply happened to be going towards her, almost motioned for her to stop. He then noticed her hands were on fire and he simply stepped out of her way, face not changing from it's normal calm. By the time she reached the door to the cave, her eyes were glowing and steaming off energy.

Bruce was talking with someone while standing at the computer, still in full costume, hand to the earpiece in his cowl. "Yes, it was a few hours ago. Well, I decided to let you sleep in a little, be nice for a change. ...I'm fine. I said _I'm fine_." He looked up to see Starfire standing across from him, hands and eyes on fire. "I'll talk to you later, Clark, she finally came down." Bruce looked at her, face completely impassive. "May I help you?" He asked flatly.

"Why are you so horrible?" Star growled.

"I don't understand the question." Batman replied, face remaining flat.

"Boyfriend-Richard left, you drove him away, for what point? What was any of your training, tearing him down and sheer cruelty meant to accomplish?" Starfire's voice got a little louder.

"To make sure he's ready." Batman replied simply.

"He is more than prepared for anything! He lead the Titans through battles that make the Joker seem miniscule! What purpose does your beating of his brow serve if he has already proved himself again and again?!" Starfire full yelled, energy on her hands and in her eyes glowing and fuming brighter.

"Are you done?"

"And you continue to not seem to care! You are the most ruthless calculating creature I have ever met. My people are from Vega, I trained on Okaara, I have seen many horrible, manipulative things and beings. I have dealt with my sister on more occasions than I care to admit. And you, Bruce Wayne, are by far the worst I have seen." The energy on her hands and in her eyes faded but she continued to glare at Batman, who's eyes narrowed in response.

Silence loomed in the cave for minutes as they continued to glare at each other.

Batman's face finally cracked into a small smirk. "You are one of the few people I have met that have stood their ground like that."

Starfire blinked, still angry but confusion began to mix into her expression.

"Yes, I drove Dick away, but on purpose. He actually lasted a lot longer than I anticipated. I would have expected him to crack a few weeks ago, but he proved me wrong." Bruce sighed. "Always seems to."

"But why-" Star started.

"I told you, I needed to see if he was ready." Bruce said in a calm tone.

"Ready for what?" Starfire asked anger slowly fading.

"To work on his own. To be on his own. I...I wanted to make sure I didn't fail him, like I failed Jason." Bruce said simply, pulling the cowl off his face to expose his sad expression as he looked at Jason's uniform in it's glass case. "He was still so reckless, so angry. He got killed because I failed him. There was...more I could have done, could have said..." he looked down. "I just...needed to see that I didn't fail Dick as well."

"How would you have failed him? You taught him well, he is an incredible person, my bias to the side. Boyfriend-Richard is who he is because you did a remarkable job raising him." Starfire said slowly.

Bruce smiled softly. "Thank you. Now I just need to wait and see that the other part of this works."

"What is 'the other part'?" Star asked, raising an eyebrow.

"When I find problems I can't solve on my own well enough, I do what I try my hardest not to do; turn to friends I trust to fix them for me." Bruce replied casually.

**Jump City:**

Gar sat on the rocks, staring absentmindedly at the waves crashing into the shore. He heard the quick movement of air behind him, and sighed. "Hey, Wally, now's not really a good time."

"I'm not Wally, but if you're sure." An older voice said calmly.

Gar blinked and turned to see the Flash standing behind him, arms folded over his chest, analyzing the green young man as he stood there. "Uhm...sorry...confused you with the usual speedster I have to deal with."

Flash chuckled. "It's alright. Gotta call saying that you needed "relationship trouble help fixing" I believe was the phrasing Jinx used." He frowned slightly, "She's an odd one."

"Really now? Have you met her boyfriend?" Gar asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Fair point. So, Garfield-"

"Please, Gar, not Garfield...it makes me sound old and...just don't wanna hear the full name at the moment." Gar muttered the last part.

"Ahhh...got full named." Wally said, having appeared a second ago with an apple.

"Do you people just pop into existence at will?" Gar blinked

"A) We're still not sure and B) what do you mean 'you people?'" Wally's eyes narrowed as he took a bite of apple while speaking. Barry raised his eyebrows under his mask.

"Uhmmm nothin, nothin at all." Gar said, uncomfortable. "So what do you mean, 'full named'?"

"The level of messing up in a relationship can be determined by how much of your name your partner uses." Barry said casually as he went to sit next to Gar, Wally continuing to lean against the taller rock he was near. "Just first name, it's pretty bad, first and middle name, it's worse, first, middle and surname? Near instant dog house." Barry explained, motioning his hand in a slight blur to show the three levels.

Gar stared back out at the waves wincing. "That is somewhere between the dumbest thing I've ever heard or the smartest, and I really can't tell where it lands."

"Eeee must've hit all three." Wally said through a bite of apple. Barry nodded.

Gar sighed "I'm not even in a relationship, Barry, I'm not sure how much help you're going to be."

Barry blinked, then looked at Wally, "If he wasn't a Titan, we'd be having the identity talk again." Wally rolled his eyes. "Gar, from what Wally's told me, it seems like you're in a relationship already."

Gar blinked, coughed slightly then stared at Barry. "How do you figure?"

"Well, you two have known each other, what, five years now?" Barry asked, to which Gar nodded, "Wally says you bicker more like a married couple than he and his girl do, you seem to know what buttons to push to get a reaction, and she seems to know yours. You both like each other-"

"Okay, how the fuck do you know that one?" Gar asked nervously.

Barry scrunched his face, "Mind the language please."

"Why, Wally-" Gar started before seeing Wally wave his arms frantically at high speeds making a "No" face- "doesn't seem to mind."

"Well, I do, fair enough?" Barry said calmly.

"Fair enough." Gar replied as Wally sighed behind Barry.

"Jinx said Raven owned up to it weeks ago. And I told her that you owned up to me liking her on my end. Hence all the uhm..." Wally paused as he tried to reach for the right word.

"Endless ill planned match making plots?" Gar quirked an eyebrow.

"Eeeeeyeah." Wally scratched the back of his head, flinging the his apple core into the water.

Barry frowned slightly. 'I'm not Ralph, but I smell a mystery here' he thought to himself before asking; " If both of you like each other, why haven't tried to asking her out anytime before?"

Gar sighed, shuffling in his spot slightly. "Hey, Wally, can I just talk to Barry for a bit?"

Wally shrugged. "I was gonna go check on Jinx in the tower, she and Donna have been checking on Raven, so it's all good." With that, Wally blurred towards the tower.

**Inside the Tower:**

Raven's safe room had been modified over the years, part as an increase of her powers as she's gotten older and part as a difference in purpose. Originally built to keep Raven safe from Trigon's forces, it now acts more as an emergency venting room, spiritual isolation chamber, and place of last resort when she absolutely, positively has to get away from everyone for a while. To this end, the main door had been more sealed off from the rest of the tower and an elevator installed in the observation room that lead directly to the entrance of the chamber. The room itself was still fairly bare, an occasional pillow here and there added for comforts sake but little else.

Jinx stood at the door to the elevator that led down to the safe room, holding a tray with a tea set on it, the pot full and steam wafting from it. Donna and her blinked at the red lock holographic symbol that floated in front of the door.

"Wally gave you the code, right?" Donna eyed a crack in the glass of the control windows as she looked down at Raven, who was huddled under her cloak on the floor of the spartan room.

"Yeah, I just really don't wanna say it." Jinx grumbled. Donna gave her a look to which Jinx replied, "I know, I know. Just remind me to kick Vic for this later." She sighed before looking at the door and speaking the unlock code in a flat, unamused tone; "Tsetaerg eht si Grobyc."

The door's hologram shifted to a green unlocked lock with a small ding noise then opened. Jinx walked into the elevator and raised an eyebrow at Donna. "Wish me luck."

"I'll be here if you need me." Donna smiled. As the elevator door closed she looked down into the room, swearing she saw Raven standing and staring at her a second ago, but Raven hadn't moved from her spot on the ground. 'Odd' Donna thought as she looked down into the blue hued room.

Jinx walked through the first two sets of doors before getting to the last which had the palm scanner. "Oh c'mon."

"Incorrect vocal override." A pacifying female computerized voice replied.

Jinx sighed again, "Tsetaerg eht llits si Grobyc."

"Override accepted." The voice replied as the doors opened. Raven was still on the ground of the center of the room, her cloak covering her hunched over form. Jinx cautiously stepped into the room and walked until she stood a few feet in front of Raven.

Jinx smiled softly. "Brought ya some tea, thought it might-" She was cut off as an image of Raven created out of a static, shifting red light appeared before her, glaring with four red eyes and knocking the tray out of her hands to the other side of the room before vanishing into nothingness. Jinx blinked and stood there as another Raven appeared, this time with a grayish tint to her form, magically reforming the whole tray, tea and all, leaving it there.

"I'm sorry about that." The gray Raven said mournfully before fading out herself.

Jinx continued to give a blank stare, as the solid Raven still had not moved from her spot. Carefully, she went over, picked up the tea set and set it to the front of Raven. Jinx than went to a corner, grabbing a random pillow, and then plopped it down on the other side of the tea set. She looked at Raven intently, whose hood was of course up and obscuring her face to the best of it's abilities. After a few minutes of silence, Jinx spoke up.

"So...forgive my lack of tact here...but what the fuck just happened?" She asked with as casual of tone she could maintain.

Raven stayed silent for another minute, before speaking, her voice slightly hoarse, stating simply "I told you I've been having trouble with my powers."

"There's trouble with your powers, then there's your emotional duplicates appearing and disappearing from and into thin air." Jinx retorted.

Raven looked up, eyes barely visible under her hood, looking confused. "You know what they are?"

"Wally told me about them, said that apparently Vic and Gar ended up in your head through a mirror and ran into them. Then they busted out a while ago and ran a muck." Jinx explained.

"Wally told you?" Raven asked, tone momentarily serious. Jinx nodded. The red Raven appeared, next to Raven, both speaking at the same time, "I'm throwing him in a realm of Lovecraftian horror." before the red Raven disappeared.

"Look, Gar told him but I figured you two have had enough issues today." Jinx said almost offhandedly. Raven lowered her head as various colored Raven's blinked in and out around them.

"This is all my fault." The grey hued one said quickly.

"Fuck that, they meddled, they pushed, it's their fault! Their fault **and** _**his**_!" The red one yelled.

"Great job, bitch, look what you started." An orange colored one said, leaning and looking at Jinx with a mix of disdain and amusement before flickering out.

"It was better when it was just me laying here doing nothing. Doing nothing would be better right now." A brown shade said, appearing on her back staring at the ceiling before disappearing.

Jinx watched wide eyed, the emotions appearing and disappearing with the same speed Wally usually flips the channels at. All of them were chattering their perspectives around them as Raven, the real one, continued to sit there, saying nothing.

"Why is this even happening, I thought they couldn't get out?" Jinx asked with a slightly raised tone over the din of the emotions talking.

A yellow Raven appeared, wearing glasses and speaking in an almost robotic tone "Repression of one emotion causes an unbalance and instability, upsetting the natural mental order. This, combined with the use of emotion as the basis of my power causes occasional outburst of all emotions, not just the one repressed. Usually the opposite of the repressed emotion appears as a response-" The yellow Raven was cut off as the real Raven shot it a glare, causing it to pop out of existence.

Jinx thought it over as Raven's emotion shades seemed to just stop popping up. Raven very slowly reached forward, pouring herself a cup of tea and taking a small sip. They sat like that for a few more minutes, Jinx allowing Raven (and herself) to enjoy the momentary quiet.

**Gotham:**

Dick sat on the roof of a building on the outer edges of the city. It was close enough to still be considered a sky scrapper, but far away enough from the center of the city to allow him to view the sky line and mull over his current predicament in quiet for hours. Bruce had pushed him too far for a reason, he knew it. He just didn't know why and honestly didn't care for the moment. What ever he needed him to do, he could've just asked like a normal person. Dick scoffed at the idea. Not Bruce asking, just the idea of Bruce as a normal person in anyway shape or form. He felt a small woosh of wind behind him, and looked down at the shadow that had joined him on the roof.

"Bit far from home, Superman." Dick said flatly, without turning around.

"It's not that far from my perspective." Superman said plainly, floating lightly over then landing softly next to Dick, standing over him. "Penny for your thoughts?"  
"Bruce send you?" Dick asked coldly.

"I heard that you ran out so I decided to-" Superman started, before Dick looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. Clark sighed, Bruce had trained Dick far too well. "Yes, he said you'd actually talk to me."

"Well, that's true." Dick muttered as he looked back at the sky line. "I just...am trying to piece it all together. What Bruce wants me to do, that is."

"I think he simply wanted to see if you can actually go out on your own." Clark said.

"There's better ways than driving me outside of the house by being a jackass." Dick said bitterly.

"It's how he operates, you know that. Sometimes I wonder if he really, really knows how to interact with others beyond subtle mind games." Clark said calmly as Dick looked down in disgruntlement. He then looked at Dick; "Though you're probably the reason why I don't think he does."

Dick looked up at him, confused. "And that is why now?"

"I met Bruce before you and he started working together. He was always distant and incredibly cold towards me and the rest of the league. Sure, he and I built up our trust over the years, but he really didn't start working harder to connect until after he adopted you. Bruce had to change his perspective, had to learn how to connect not just to people, but a child. And you helped him do that, even if you didn't notice or realize." Clark explained, smiling warmly.

Dick looked back over the city, loosing himself in thought. "I'm...not a kid anymore though."

"No one said you were." Clark responded.

"How am I supposed to help him now? I honestly feel I just need to go off and leave here but...I want to maintain contact, despite all this hell." Dick thought out loud.

"You want to keep an eye on him because of Jason's death?" Clark asked directly to the point.

"I think it hit him harder than he's been letting on. Hell, the Joker bringing it up almost confirms it. The maniac always seems to know what's in Bruce's head, in his own twisted way." Dick said bitterly.

"We've been doing our best at the League, but I understand what you mean. All we can do is be here when he needs us, even if he doesn't think he needs us or anyone." Clark said, not quite as bitterly but there were hints in his normal pleasant tones.

Dick continued to stare out at the city. "I still am not sure who to be now...I can't really be "Robin" any more..."

Clark looked out with him, seeming to mull something over. "There's an old Kryptonian legend I learned from Kara a while ago; she was taught it by my father actually. Long ago on Krypton, in the city of Kandor, the city had been divided by the feuding, ancient clans. In a daring raid, one of the ruling families destroyed a lesser rivals of theirs, leaving just one survivor. In his desire for justice, he took up the name Nightwing,as he was now clanless and became a vigilante. After halting the greed of the clan that destroyed his family, he eventually was able to bring peace, reminding the noble houses that the people of Kandor and Krypton as a whole deserved better."

Dick listened, pondering over the name. "Nightwing, huh..." He had heard the name before, something Star had told him about a possible future self of his. It seemed more than coincidence that he was told the name as many times as he had. "A man forced from his family to work on his own...seems fitting enough."

Clark smiled "Figured you would like it."

Dick sat up and stretched. "Might as well finally go back and talk to Bruce, get it all over with. Thanks, Mr. Kent."

"You're welcome, but please, Dick you're in your twenties, you can call me Clark now." Superman said as he shook his hand.

"I could but that'd seem weird." Dick smiled before casually jumping off the side of the building, grappling towards where he hid his bike.

Superman just shook his head before tapping at his ear. "Hey, Bruce? He's on his way back. Thought I'd warn you." He flew up slightly, before darting off into the distance.

**Jump City; The Safe Room:**

"So how long has this been going on?" Jinx asked, breaking the near quarter hour of silence.

Raven sighed "About six months."

"I see a correlation from the amount of time that your beatings of everyone's favorite changeling have been getting worse." Jinx said calmly, sipping her own cup of tea.

"Naw, really?" the Orange Raven flickered in and out.

Jinx ignored the comment, "So what have you been doing differently?"

Raven shifted in her spot uncomfortably. "Well, as my brain tried to explain, I've just been trying to hide...everything more."

"You mean there was a time you didn't?" Jinx quirked an eyebrow.

A pink hued Raven appeared floating on her back, like she was swimming "Man those days were awesome!" then seemed to pop out of sight as Raven glared up, what of her face Jinx could see was tinged red.

Jinx looked at Raven, trying to keep a plain face. "Love?"

"Happy." Raven muttered. "It was last summer and fall actually. We hung out more, and chatted more often. Admittedly, it was...nice."

"Understatement!" The pink Raven appeared over the real Raven's head again, smiling wide. Raven glared up again and her form popped out of existence again.

"What happened then?" Jinx asked, confused.

"It...I just...I couldn't take it." Raven put her cup down roughly and curled her legs to her chest, wrapping her arms around them as she did so. "He was getting too close and I..." Her head fell onto her knees.

"Chickened out." A green Raven appeared, looking up in an annoyed manner. "Wuss." She said roughly before fading out.

The Gray Raven appeared, curled up like the real Raven, but facing a corner. "Couldn't do it, too scared, too close,couldn't do it, too scared, too close..." She started almost chanting in the corner, continuing to do so as she faded away.

"So you snapped back like a rubber band..." Jinx said, watching everything curiously. "You couldn't handle going one way, so you went the other and went so hard that...well...this happened."

"I didn't want this to happen!" The Red Raven appeared, growling at Jinx before the real Raven's arm lifted and waved it away. Or at least tried. The Red Raven's four eyes narrowed, pointing an accusatory finger at Jinx, "You people pushed, shoved and tried to force things! That's not how this works!" The red image finally dissipated, Raven actually having to sit up a little and focus to make it happen.

"How's it supposed to work, Raven?" Jinx asked sternly. Even though she had been yelled at by an emotion shade, she knew that this was a thought of Raven's.

"I...I figure it's just...at my own pace...at my own time." Raven stammered, weary.

"You...really don't know how a relationship works, do you?" Jinx tilted her head.

Raven frowned, before curling herself back up into a ball. "For me, _they don't._"

"Not with that attitude." Jinx said playfully, before taking a softer tone "Look, it's all about give, from both sides. If one person tries to dictate how every little thing in the relationship goes, it's not going to last long. And the inverse is true, if both sides do nothing, then it's just a limbo of what could be and what could've been. Gar's made an effort to pitch in, and maybe you could give him the benefit of the doubt and give a little." Jinx stood up as Raven continued not to move. "Hell, you might find out what he can contribute then." With that, Jinx left the room to go back upstairs, leaving Raven to her thoughts.

Jinx walked out of the elevator into the observation room, where Wally had joined Donna.

"So what's with the Ravens of the rainbow?" Wally asked calmly.

"Remember the emotion Ravens? Apparently they're having trouble staying in her head because she's not managing them well." Jinx said flatly, frowning. "What, I thought you heard the conversation?"

"Only you and her, when the other Raven's appeared, we couldn't make out a word." Donna said calmly.

Jinx looked confused for moment, thinking out loud "Must have to be in the room to hear them. They are magical constructs." She then looked at Wally, "How're things with the green bean?"

"He's talkin' to Barry now. Wanted to talk to him on his own. Figured I'd let him." Wally replied.

Jinx nodded then remembered; "So, why _did_ I have to call Barry anyways?"

Donna looked at Wally, adding pressure, "What'd you do this time?"

Wally shifted in his spot. "I...uh...okay, so you know how Uncle Barry and I hang out every other weekend?" The two girls nodded. "Well, every now and then we race. Nothing serious, but just to pass the time. I uh, beat Barry last time."

The two women stared. Donna said what they both were thinking "You beat the Flash in a race?"  
Wally scratched the back of his head, looking down, "Yeah...it was a little awkward. I'm not even sure how hard he was trying to be honest."

Jinx raised an eyebrow, grinning widely, "And how hard were you trying?"

"I think I almost tore the tendon in my heel." Wally frowned.

They left the observation room to wander back out into the common area, Wally going to check on Gar and Barry.

Raven continued to sit in the center of the room, her emotions being quiet for now, save one. A violet hued Raven had appeared behind her, sitting down, back leaning on a wall "I just want this to work again." The shade said softly, looking at the ceiling with a sad expression.

**Jump City, On the Rocks:**

"...and that's how this entire thing's _my_ fault." Gar finished explaining to Barry.

Barry had listened intently, going over Gar's side of things. He wasn't surprised but still, it was an interesting story.

"...Please don't tell Wally." Gar added quickly.

"I wouldn't worry about that." Barry said calmly, smiling.

"Don't tell me what?" Wally said, almost popping up at the mention of his name.

"Don't worry about it." Barry replied quickly, keeping his grin. Wally's shoulders slumped at this, while Barry turned his attention back to Gar. "I'm going to give you the quick assessment; Not everything has to be your fault, Gar. Sometimes she can make mistakes too. Even if you mess up, it doesn't balance out if you ignore her messing up. It just creates more of a mess."

Gar stared out over the water, sighing. "I was afraid of that."

Barry chuckled "Don't be." Gar looked up at him, confused. "Mistakes are what make us, _especially_ us, human. Keep that in mind, Gar."

Gar smiled softly for the first time since the fight, "Thanks, Barry,"

"Never a problem. And don't forget to call your parents, they might have something to add in." Barry smiled.

"No, I expect Steve would tell me to man up and I really...really don't want to talk to Rita about this." Gar waved his hands quickly as he answered.

"If you say so." Barry looked at Wally, "I've gotta head out, J'onn's telling me Captain Boomerang's robbing a bank. Again. Wanna lend a hand?"

"Naw, I think I have a bit to help handle here, thanks though. Send Digger my regards." Wally said cheerfully, shaking Barry's hand.

"Will do." Barry nodded to Gar before disappearing in a blur, running across the bay in less than a second.

"You're uncle's a cool guy." Gar said after a minute.

"Eh, I've met better." Wally smirked.

Later, as evening had hit, everyone save Raven had gathered in the common area. Beast Boy was wandering aimlessly in Skyrim, Wally was trying his best to backseat game, Jinx was reading and Donna was apparently trying to snooze on one of the chairs in the corner, tablet covering her eyes as she had been reading notes before hand.

Everyone jumped a little as the door from the halls opened and Raven walked in. Donna fumbled with the tablet, trying to go back to reading. Gar and Wally looked at her, blinked, then rapidly became reabsorbed into attempting to locate where the hell BB had gotten himself lost. Jinx, whose spot was closest to the door, looked up at Raven, smiling tentatively.

"Feeling better?"

Raven nodded "That and I'm really damn hungry." She walked over to the counter, a muffin that was left as part of a snack bowl floating along with her as she passed by. Raven opened the door to the microwave, and put the muffin inside, and tried to get it to start. She sighed, having confirmed that she had busted the machine earlier, and simply took the muffin out, taking a bite before walking over to the couch area and sitting on the other side of Gar.

Gar nervously looked over at Raven. She looked back at him with a bit of equal nervousness.

"Hey-" Gar started before the main elevator door opened with a ding. Everyone in the room went to look, though two were a bit more annoyed than the others.

"What's up, Titans?!" Rose Wilson, the Ravager stepped out of the elevator, grin on her face.

* * *

**And got that done. Ugh. This took way too long for so few words. I apologize for that, I got burnt out. Been writing everyday since I got off work since I started this and it finally took it's toll hardcore this past chapter. Had to do a quick 40k drabble and plot outline to keep myself sane. That and I really loomed over the argument and aftermath for a day or two. I really wanted that to go as low as I felt reasonable and have the after effects pretty damning. Hopefully I did that right. Main goal right now is shifting to probably making this 12 chapters? I have just 9 mapped out originally, but my notes deviation makes that hard to go by. But 12 seems like a good number, making this the halfway point. I do have a few ideas of how to continue on from here, one I totally, absolutely have to do and the other is more a maybe. As said above, I have a 40k drabble I did, still need to get it tested before I post it though. Have a few another one too but I'll wait and see on it. Too much creative work to do.**

**Anyways; lemme check reviews to respond to whilst dancing to System of a Down (Radio/Video. It's dance worthy. Shut up.)**

**shugokage: Apparently need that luck, thank you ^^  
**

**LurkingShadowWillow: Two things; Consider this cliffhanger a somewhat response to the one in your story. (Those who are not LurkingShadowWillow, read the story, During the College Years, catch up, and you'll get it. If you don't, then you've just caught up in a great AU story.) And the adversion to the "g" word is years worth of neurosis built up. But awesome to be called that twice. Don't believe it but hopefully this chapter lives up to it.**

**Allllllllllrighty; Let's see next chapter is: No Leaf Clover, by Metallica.**

**Chapter Title song done by Tool. As said in the previous chapter. Hrm.**

**As always, thanks for reading, review please and an extra shout out to the now 32 watchers of this fic! All of ya! That is literally 32 more than I was expecting. You guys rock! Even you people who don't watch and are reading, you rock too. Fuck it, everybody rocks! Well no, not you Steve. But the rest of ya? Totally rock.  
**


	7. Chapter 7: No Leaf Clover

**AN: Notes at bottom, 'cept for the usual "I do not own this" legal thing.**

**Oh, right. I don't own the Teen Titans.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: No Leaf Clover**

The Titans stared at Rose for a second, before returning to their previous activities. Or in two cases, Gar returning to staring at the screen and Raven pulling a book out of nowhere and beginning to read. Jinx was the only one who continued to acknowledge her.

"Been a while, Rose, thought you forgot how to find the tower." Jinx grinned.

"Yes, because it is incredibly difficult to find a giant T-shaped building in the middle of a busy port city's bay. Damn near impossible." Rose said sarcastically, dropping her swords and gear, and wandering over to the fridge. She grumbled at the lack of beer, grabbing a soda and preceded to sit on the empty side of the couch on the other side of Raven. "If I really didn't know any better, I would've thought Vic set this place up _to_ be found and attacked regularly."

"Knowin' Cy, it was floating in his circuits somewhere in there. Probably planted by Robin as a battle tactic. I don't try to think about it too much." Gar said with a small frown, continuing to look at the screen.

"You think?" Rose asked quickly after a sip of soda. Gar's ears went down. She smiled wide, holding her fist up for a bump from Raven, who simply looked at her from the page she was on, and shook her had softly. Rose frowned and took another sip of her soda while taking off her mask, letting her white hair flow out around her. "So, have I missed anything interesting?"

"No." The others synchronized.

Rose looked around the room suspiciously as Raven and Jinx had kept themselves glued to their books, BB to his game, Wally to BB's game and Donna to her tablet. Her eyes flicked to the crack in the window, while reduced still very much present. "Mmm...hmm...right."

"Find something interesting I take it?" Donna asked quickly, looking up from her notes. Rose had been running stealth runs in and around the city for her, trying to scrounge up the barest hints of what's going on with the underworld. Her history with said underbelly was very useful. And Rose was still looking for as many chances to prove herself to the Titans as she could find.

"Sort of. This gang popped up in the old district, keeps going from abandoned building to abandoned building. Wouldn't have given them a second thought if they didn't seem to be lugging some serious tech with them around." Rose replied, deciding to take up the full end of the U shaped couch she was one by resting her feet off the edge and laying back, putting her soda on the ground. "And when I say lug, I mean one of the bastards carried something the size of a truck engine on one shoulder, like it was nothing. So, metas, definitely, with tech that I wasn't able to identify."

"Any pictures?" Donna's face was calm but hints of excitement for having a lead entered her tones.

"No, I'm a complete noob." Rose held up a camera, casually tossing it over to Donna.

"Technically, you are." Gar said quickly with a smirk as Donna caught the camera, taking out the memory card and loading it into the tablet.

"Bite me, greeny."

"No thanks, don't like the taste of crazy." Gar said simply.

"Then why are ya-" Rose started, beginning to gesture at Raven before Jinx and Wally looked up, both rapidly shaking their heads, Wally making a throat cutting gesture at super speed repeatedly. "-Nevermind." Rose finished blandly as Gar continued to stare at his screen, Raven not looking up from her book.

Donna examined the pictures carefully, frowning to herself. She also had no idea what the tech was, it was familiar but off. It had bits of alien tech, almost Apokolips level but it was flattened out, redesigned. She further frowned at the gangs get up. They were uniformed, but not in any recognizable manner. Cheap jeans, cheap white hooded sweatshirts, but with near skull faced demonic looking masks. They had to be organized bigger than what they were trying to hide as but there was only one way to figure out. As for the tech, she decided to send an email of the pics off to Diana, hopefully get it through the league faster than using normal protocols.

"Rose, do you know if they're still at this particular building?" Donna looked up from the tablet at Rose's end of the couch.

"Far as I know, their pattern is to jump base every two to three days, and they just settled there last night." Rose replied, as she watched Beast Boy run away from a very angry set of five bears in the game.

"So if we want to make a move, today would be the best plan?" Donna frowned.

"You got it." Rose smirked, continuing to watch Gar fumble. "C'mon, man, just kill 'em."

"Give me a goddamn sec." Gar grumbled. He had lead the bears to chase him up an incline, before using a shout to knock them all the way back down. "There, bear threat, gone."

"Clever." Rose complimented. "So did you hear all of this, or do we have to go over it again?"

"I heard ya, and it's a good plan. Catch 'em now, figure out if they know anything, and hopefully avert what ever they're up to in the meantime." Gar stated in a near business tone as he saved the game, turned it off then stood up and stretched. "I guess we should get ready. Rose, you can get us there unnoticed right?"

"Duh."

"Alright, that settles it. Let's get movin, guys an' girls." Gar said before wandering his way towards his room to change into his uniform. Wally and Jinx sat up and did the same, Wally hobbling a little as he had been sitting on his foot. Raven continued to sit there, reading her book.

"...Raven, ya gonna go get ready or something? Don't you usually meditate before these things?" Rose eyed her suspiciously.

"What?" Raven looked up, blank expression on her face.

"Mission, get prepared for, leaving soon." Rose filled in flatly.

"Oh, right. Yeah. Probably should." Raven responded simply, folding her book and walking slowly back towards her room.

As soon as she was out of sight, Rose looked at Donna. "What the fuck's goin' on with her?"

Donna sighed. "Bad day."

"What, she and the greenskin get into a spat again?" Rose asked, almost jokingly. She watched Donna frown, her eyes flickering to the crack in the window, before nodding slowly. Rose titled her head. "That bad, huh?"

"How'd you figure out it?"

"You guys weren't here last summer, I was. Lacked a place of my own at the time. Anyways, they were damn near all over each other. Almost as bad as Dick and Star, without the blatant turning into the halls and running into a make out session. That was always awkward." Rose frowned then shook the memory out. "But yeah, it was obvious then. I didn't even know them that long as it was. Might help that I was trained by a clinical psychopathic father to analyze people rapidly but I feel that's aside from the point."

Donna mulled it over. "Did they fight often then?"

"Sorta. I don't think it ever lead to, well..." Rose looked at the window, "That. But they could go on for a bit. Didn't get bad until the winter. Stopped by during the holidays and they were colder than Finland's left nut to each other. Something happened, but no one pried. And then a few months ago it kinda was like it was a few minutes ago, tension, closeness, but apparent nada."

Donna's ears perked at the wording. "Apparent?"

"Yeah." Rose looked at the doors, in thought. "Something's still goin down they're just...I dunno, not acknowledging it?" She then shrugged, going back to laying on the couch. "Just an outsider's perspective, don't think too hard on it, Donna. Even amazon's have to have stress limits."

Donna nodded, standing up and putting the tablet on the side table near her chair and beginning to walk out of the room. "You're incredibly perspective, have you gone over this with anyone else?"

"Naw, I'd prefer no one figure that out yet. They don't trust me as it is, telling them 'Oh, by the way, I'm pretty sure I can figure out what you had for lunch by watching you walk' might put them more on edge. 'Sides, this way, I stay outta the drama loop." Rose said calmly.

"You can tell what we had for lunch by how we walk?" Donna quirked an eyebrow.

"Chipotle." Rose stated simply. Donna blinked, then walked out of the room quickly, causing Rose to smirk, resting her hands behind her head. "Still got it."

**Gotham:**

Dick had returned to the cave in the early evening, using the drive back to prepare himself. As he slowed the bike down in the cave, he looked over to see that Bruce had passed out on the control panel of the computer, cowl off and from what Dick could tell, at least seven windows open. Dick shook his head as he walked over to softly tap Bruce on the shoulder. When his hand got within an inch of him, it was stopped roughly at the wrist by Bruce, whose eyes blinked open slowly. He looked up, and noticed who it was and let go.

"Reflex." He said simply.

"I'm aware." Dick replied rubbing his wrist slightly. A pause entered the conversation, both men looking mildly uncomfortable.

"I'm...well, I'm not sorry I snapped." Dick started.  
Bruce smirked. "Figured as much."

"Besides, I have a feeling that was the desired result." Dick raised his eyebrows at his mentor.

"That is true." Bruce said calmly. Another pause entered the conversation.

"...Are...you going to...?" Dick began to ask.

"No. You know why I did it, well mostly, so I'm not apologizing for my actions." Bruce said simply. Dick's face began to scrunch up, looking as if he was getting ready to start yelling again when Bruce put up his hands. "I will, however, apologize for upsetting you as much as I did. For that, I am sorry."

Dick stared blankly at Bruce, still slightly in a pose prepped for an argument, finger slightly raised in an accusatory fashion. "I...uhm. Thank you." His stance relaxed, and he scratched the back of his head.

"I take it your talk with Clark went well?" Bruce stood up and stretched lightly, various popping noised from his back being heard. He tapped a button on his computer, and the screen went to a blank, light blue background with the Bat symbol on it.

"Yeah, he gave me a lot to go over. Told me a story that gave me an idea." Dick's eyes flickered to the now blank screen curiously.

"Did he now?" Bruce had the barest hints of amusement in his tones.

Dick sighed "Well, I figured that honestly, I'm a bit to old to be 'Robin', I've been kinda wanting to move on from it, especially after you had Jason over here. But I kept it, just as a reminder of where I came from. And you made the good point that it'd confuse the hell out of people with there being two Robins." Bruce nodded. "Then Mr. Kent told me a story about a Kryptonian hero named 'Nightwing', forced to give up his family name and fight on his own. Admittedly, I like the idea."

"Nightwing..." Bruce said in the same manner someone does when their trying to find a place for a puzzle piece. He motioned for Dick to follow him as they went across the cave towards the armory area.

"Yeah, I figured it fits, it's not too flashy and...I'm not gonna lie, sounds pretty damn cool." Dick finished.

"My ability to take that from you is dampened by the name 'Robin' being your idea." Bruce smirked.

"You didn't argue and I was twelve." Dick rebutted.

"True enough." Bruce replied. They moved past the normal armory and stopped at what looked like a bulked up shipping container. "So you really want to go through with working on your own?"

"...I would like to keep working with Star, but mostly yeah. Would miss the connections though." Dick frowned.

"Who said you would lose them?" Bruce asked calmly, pressing a button on the front of the container. The door opened and revealed what initially looked like a secondary armory, but the weaponry was different. Everything appeared to be more curved, an inbetween for the Robin and Batman gear, with a simple set of jumpsuits in the center. Everything was a plain black, no colors added.

Dick stared. "You clever bastard."

"Clark had told me about the Nightwing thing a while ago, which matched up with what you had described to me about a run in with a time traveling version of yourself. So I had Lucious run up some ideas, trying to make sure everything is something that you'd be comfortable with, focusing on what you do better than me; being light on your feet." Bruce said with a genuine smile.

"Why the lack of color?" Dick asked as he walked in, examining the gear like a kid on Christmas.

"I'd let that be up to you, it's your gear. I figured this would be enough to get you started. Any adjustments you can make yourself. For the color patterns though, I kept flipping between these." Bruce tapped at a monitor that had been placed inside the container, it flicking to life with two separate patterns, one with simple blue lines on the gear and a stylized bird motif on the suit in blue, the other the same in red.

"I like the blue more, the red just looks weird." Dick frowned, tapping at the screen.

"Automanufacturing adjustments acknowledged, please step out of the unit so adjustments can be made." A computerized voice responded.

"You really do think of everything." Dick grinned as they stepped out of the container unit, the doors hissing closed behind them and a digital counter appearing on the front of the doors as a hologram with a twelve hour countdown.

"I try." Bruce replied. "There is one string attached, though."

Dick frowned. "And that is?"

"I'd like you to settle in Bludhaven for a while." Bruce walked over to the computer and put the windows back on, revealing maps of Bludhaven and criminal traffic patterns to and from.

"Something's happening there, it's become a training ground for criminals. Everything from the various mafia groups to meta-humans trying to get a start. I need someone ground level, to try and dig in and figure out what's going on." Bruce turned to Dick, frowning slightly. "And I don't trust anyone else to do this, Dick."

Dick stared at the screen, thinking it over, wide eyed a little. "But...the Titans..." Dick started.

"Are in good hands." Bruce said smoothly. "Beast Boy somehow does an excellent job as a leader. Would've almost never seen it coming."

"He's smarter than he'll admit." Dick replied, sighing. "I don't know how to break it to Kori."

"She knows." Bruce added, causing Dick to look up at him quickly. Bruce sighed. "Kori and I had a...discussion after you left the cave. I mentioned to her my plans and she, after much internal deliberation, left it up to you. You can talk to her yourself if you want."

"I think I might, I...I need to think this over Bruce." Dick said wearily.

"That's fine, take as much time as you need." Bruce nodded. Dick walked up to the mansion, head swimming with what he had to consider.

**Jump City:**

Jump City is a fairly large, old trading city. It's full of many wonderful, historical sights and sections. Unfortunately this was not one of them. The area was run down, half of it slated to be demolished for either expanded warehouses and storage for the docks a few blocks over or cheap apartments. The building that the Titans were currently perched across from was one such example. Old, five story apartment building, surprising that it had lasted into the twentieth century let alone the twenty-first. It made a decent hiding place though, in between two larger buildings, creating narrow alleys on either side, it's back blocked off by another large building.

A green mouse scurried away from the building, shifting to a cat then a pigeon, fluttering up to the remainder of the group before shifting back into the familiar form of Beast Boy.

"It's got a fairly open interior, and it looks like they're not planning to settle. No equipment, a few cots and some canned foods still boxed up. What ever the tech is, they ain't using it." BB said, looking over at the building, brows furrowed in thought.

"They have the entrances covered too, 'cept one from the alley to our right." Kid Flash had dashed up the side of the building a second ago.

"They have a choke point at the front, and no one to come in from the back." Wonder Girl thought out loud.

"Or from the upstairs windows." Ravager added, slight grin on her face along with a look of cold calculation.

"Anything on numbers?" Beast Boy looked at Raven.

Raven's face contorted with concentration. "It's weird...I can tell where people are because they leave an imprint but something's making it fuzzy. Harder to pinpoint. I have to guess somewhere between eight and ten, though."

"I don't like the feel of what they're using to block themselves out." Jinx said, her usual pre-fight grin absent. "What ever it is, it...shouldn't be here."

"Well that's always comforting." Beast Boy said with a slight frown. He finally sighed as he finished his plan up in his head. "The best I got is this; Wonder Girl, fly Ravager over, and drop her near the alley door, and her and Flash will bust in from down there. Then you and Jinx start working your way down from the top and Raven and I will go in from the third floor windows. It doesn't have to be all at once, the more random it is, the more it should throw 'em off. Hopefully."

Everyone nodded.

"Alright, Titans, well. Go." Beast Boy resisted the temptation to shout, stealth op and all. As everyone departed, it just left him and Raven on the roof.

"...Are you okay with working with me on this?" Beast Boy asked nervously.

"Of course. You think you'll be able to keep up?" Raven smirked slightly.

"Oh, oh. It's on." BB grinned quickly, then face went back down. "...And hey...about earlier..."

"We'll talk about this afterward, okay?" Raven said quickly.

"...Okay." Beast Boy agreed. 'Better not cloud things up before a mission. Things go wrong that way.' He thought.

**Gotham:**

Dick's plan to talk to Star when he got to the room got thrown out of whack a little when she had pounced him. Apparently, she had missed him greatly in his few hours of running off...

About an hour later, he was still awake, somehow, staring at the ceiling in thought as she was curled up next to/around him. It was a lot to take in admittedly. Bruce was willing to give him his start, and independence. Sort of. He would work his own way, with his own methods, but still in a way reported to Bruce. At the same time, he understood why; everything he had read up on Bludhaven in the past and recently since he's been in town indicated that it needed a good clean sweep. Dick wished he could bring the Titans in but he didn't think it would be fair. Raven and Gar had really settled in Jump, to the point that he wasn't sure they'd be entirely willing to leave, even to help. Cyborg was, in more ways than one, attached to the Tower. Starfire...well he wasn't sure. She wouldn't want to leave her friends, but he sure as hell knew she wouldn't want to leave him either.

"You are still awake?" Kori said softly, eyes still closed.

"No."

"You are a terrible liar, Boyfriend-Richard." Her eyes were still closed, but a smile formed on her face.

"Only when I want to be." Dick smiled as well.

"The decision is a most difficult one, is it not?" Kori asked solemnly.

"I know the right choice, but it's the hardest one to go with." Dick sighed.

"I believe that is how it always works." Kori replied sadly.

"And you'll support whatever I go with?"

Kori sat up, allowing the sheets to fall off her naked form, and leaning on his so they were face to face. "I will support you with whatever you do, Richard Grayson. Just remember that no matter what, you are 'the stuck with me'"

Dick did his best to keep his eyes on her, and failed momentarily to look down at her chest pressed into his then back up. "I think I'll be able to live with that." He pushed his head up to kiss her deeply, before catching her off guard to flip her onto her back, earning a pleasing yelp.

**Jump City:**

Beast Boy crashed through the window from the left side of the building and looked around the room. It was an odd apartment building, each floor seemed to be one unit to itself, almost completely open. There was hardly any lights in the place, almost perfectly dark. Which would be a problem if he really needed to see. He smelled the air, catching hints of mold, asbestos, various forms pest droppings and little else. 'Odd,' he thought 'should be able to smell the members of the gang.'

Raven had a similar feeling when she had phased through the wall. The fuzzy feeling had hung in the air. It was like...being blinded by radio static, her sense both overwhelmed and deadened at the same time. She looked across the room to see Beast Boy having a similar expression of confusion. They walked over to each other.

"This really is too damn weird. Do you think they already jumped sites?"  
Beast Boy asked, eyeing the hardly lit room with suspicion.

"Don't think so. If they had they would've not left some sort of filter up to block my senses." Raven responded. She saw a slight shift in movement behind Beast Boy, her eyes flickering to it.

Luckily, Beast Boy's hearing had caught the sound of the person moving behind him and turned in just enough time to catch a black baseball bat coming towards his head. Admittedly, it hurt like hell to catch but he wasn't going to show it beyond a twitch.

"Fuck!" The man said. He was tall, about equal with Beast Boy, above average build, that BB could see, and was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt, and a silver colored mask that seemed to have some form of demonic face on it. It was kind of generic but at the same time gave Beast Boy an unconscious feeling of discomfort. Hard to place what was wrong, but something was wrong.

Raven sent a quick blast of energy at the goon, and he was thrown back, but only in a manner that seemed like he had been lightly shoved instead of thrown. Raven was about to send another but was almost caught off guard by another man, a bit shorter, but same style mask and white hoodie. She redirected it and ended up blasting him directly in the face, which created a wave of energy in the room, throwing everyone back and down.

Raven looked at Beast Boy, who was trying to sit up before the goon who had attacked him, "So I think I know the source of the odd feeling." she said flatly.

"Sources." BB corrected, to which Raven nodded.

"Hope the others notice."

Jinx had noticed on her first goon, and between her and Wonder Girl were able to easily take them out, well sort of. Jinx decided to cheat by weakening the floor in the center of the room, and simply lured her sparring partner there. The man yelped as he fell though, groaning when he hit the floor below. Wonder Girl had lifted one of her assailants and thrown him into the new hole while holding the other in a headlock. She reached for and tried to yank the mask off, but was stopped by a burning sensation. She yelped and removed her hand, causing the goon to chuckle. Wonder Girl then punched the mask, hard, causing a minor ripple of energy but the goon went limp. Not dead, thankfully just unconscious. She let go of the head lock, and after he had dropped in the air enough, grabbed the back of his hoodie and thrown him into the hole on top of the other two.

"You good?" Jinx asked, looking at Wonder Girl's red hand.

"Just not used to it." Wonder Girl replied, also examining her own hand. "What ever those masks are, they're well designed."

Jinx nodded, then looked down the hole, gesturing with her arm, grinning. "Shall we?"

"I'm actually going to check the ground floor, have a bad feeling." Wonder Girl said, walking towards a window.

"Suit yourself." Jinx said cheerfully, jumping down the hole she had made, landing on one of the goons trying to stand up. Wonder Girl leapt out of the window, hitting the ally with a dull thunk, denting the pavement a little before diving into one of the ground floor windows and rolling to a stop. Sure enough, Ravager was being hassled by two goons, one of which was armed with a sword of his own, and being able to keep up with her, at least while she was distracted. Kid Flash was fighting an apparent meta-goon, he was large but faster than he should've been using his strength to brush off Flash's punches and his speed to try and catch him, which he almost did a few times.

Wonder Girl decided to give Ravager a hand, because it frankly looked like Flash was playing with his goon, leading him into something. She unhooked her lasso, and wrapped it around the non-sword wielding goon, yanking him over to her, causing him to yelp in surprise.

Ravager gave a quick, almost imperceptible curt nod at her before pulling out her second sword and went full offensive. The goon didn't have as much luck after that, though actually got a few more nicks on her, almost getting at her throat. She caught him with a stab in the shoulder, gaining a yelp before she used her other sword to brush his away and moving in to crack him upside the head with the hilt to knock him out. He slumped a little, still being held up by the sword in his shoulder, to which Ravager simply kicked him off, onto the ground with a thud. She twirled the blades to get the blood off then put them up. Noticing that Wonder Girl and Kid Flash had their goons under control, she went towards the stairs and up.

She found Gar and Raven on the second floor, their fight having moved them down through a hole and into another 7 guys which they were having a tad bit of trouble with. Well, sort of. Raven had fell back on her martial training, using bursts of energy to push people back, where Beast Boy had settled on his sasquatch form, allowing him to hold off at least two and kick a third onto the ground. Ravager watched as the goon slid onto the ground, stopping in front of her. She saw his eyes behind the mask open from their apparent grimace of pain and have a shocked look when seeing her looming over, smiling.

"Mind if I join the party?" She asked before kicking him unconscious and leaping into the fray, jumping at a goon who had tried to grab Raven from behind.

"What took you so long?" Raven growled as she placed her palm on one of the goons and flung him back with a large burst of black energy.

"Got lost, you wouldn't believe the twists in this place." Ravager grinned as she decked a goon in the side of the head, gaining his head moving only a little and causing her to pull her hand back in pain. "Motherfucker, that hurt!" She then connected her knee to his crotch, causing him to drop like a sack of bricks. "These masks are weird."

"No shit." Raven added, jabbing her foot on a goon's and catching him in the shoulder with a burst of energy, giving a small cracking noise as his ankle gave out. She lifted her foot, letting him fall over, cursing at her in pain. One of the goons left standing ran for the stairs, going up.

"I got 'em." Beast Boy said as he shift back, running after the goon in his normal form. It was a two flight set, like the rest in the building, and he decided he'd just run it normal, as these guys hadn't shown themselves to be anything beyond brawlers with creepy masks. He caught up with the goon at the top of the stairs, towards the entrance to the next floor. As he almost had the leap on him, the guy turned, giving a solid punch that almost connected. 'Okay, maybe there is some skill here.' BB thought. He dropped into a loose boxing form and jabbed out at the goon, which was quickly deflected and responded with a quick uppercut, catching Beast Boy on his chin as he tried to back up. Unfortunately, there was no where to back up to and BB felt himself lift in the air as the punch connected, momentarily dazed. He regained enough sense to notice he was falling down the stairs, brain rapidly flipping between animal choices that'd take a fall well.

Then his head hit a concrete stair with a crack, and everything went black.

**Metropolis:**

Vic was getting tired of everyone calling him randomly today. He actually told Dick to call him back after dinner, which caught his friend by surprise but he did so.

"So...why are you hung up on this?" Cyborg asked, staring at the computer screen in his room that had Dick in a window over various others that had blueprints open.

"...You don't think I'd be abandoning the team?" Dick asked, blinking.

"Dick, we're all getting older, the fact that any of us haven't been picked up by the League is damn surprising. I'm just surprised ya haven't gone off on your own yet already." Cy said as he continued to do his usual conversation fidget of adjusting one of his hands with a screwdriver.

"Well, Star's been a boost for that and honestly? I like being on a team, I like having a family to lean on." Dick admitted.

"And I think we'll always be Titans, we'll always be a family. But you of all of us aren't going to grow continuing to lead the team. You know you've been wanting to go off solo, well if Star's with ya, solo-ish, for a while now. Hell, you've been doing that while part of the team. And if Batman, the freakin' Batman says you're the only one he trusts for this, you should take him up on it. That's a great deal coming from him. You know that more than anyone." Vic said the last part while pointing the screwdriver at Dick.

Dick sighed. "I know...and I know this is what I want to do, it's just..."

"A big step. That shit's always scary, man." Vic completed.

"Yeah."

There was a small lull in the conversation. Cy looked at the screen at Dick for a moment, before smirking. "So if that hickey means anything, I'm guessin' Kori's gonna be with you over there?"

Dick's hand rapidly snapped to cover a spot on his neck.

"I'll take that as a yes. You think she'll be okay with that? I mean, Bludhaven's not Gotham, as far as I've heard, there's not really a nice part of the city." Vic had a look of concern.

"It'll be rough I think...but we'll hopefully be doing enough good that it'll off balance the crazy shit we're going to have to delve into." Dick said tentatively, hand not leaving the spot on his neck.

"Alright, if you say so. Just, keep an eye on her-" He was cut off as his communicator went off, he noticed Dick's did too, flashing the emergency red symbol. He flipped it open to look at the text, frowning. "Aw fuck."

Dick stared at his, looking at the same message. "Fuck indeed."

**Jump City:**

Raven was the first to sense what had happened, but as always Flash was the first on the scene. He saw BB's crumbled green form slumped into a wall, and followed the blood trail up, seeing the goon who had thrown the punch. The goon, for his part, was equal parts smug and shocked that he got that hit. This faded as soon as Kid Flash was on him. The bastard literally didn't see what hit him before he hit the ground, knocked out.

Jinx had finished clearing the floors above and came running at Flash. "I felt something happen, what was-" She stopped as she looked past him, down the stairwell at Beast Boy. It looked like that he had hit a step half way down then just had tumbled, cuts covered him, a shoulder looked dislocated, and the way he had hit seemed to indicate he had to have a few broken bones. She winced, noticing what looked to be a tooth on a step.

"Gar!" Raven had phased through into the stairwell, and was over him in a second, rolling him on his back. She instantly started to heal him, the white energy fizzed a little, her having drained herself during the fight. She shook her hand in frustration, not bothering to stop herself from tearing up as she kept trying to focus.

The rest of the team gathered around, looking between each other and BB. Wally cautiously put his hand on Raven's shoulder, who had momentarily given up on trying to do a full healing, but still hovered over. "Raven, can you get enough energy to teleport him back to the tower?" There was no response. "Raven, you're the one who can get there fastest, and get him set up in the infirmary before any...other damage occurs." Wally did not want to directly breach the subject of internal bleeding but he knew it was there. Raven still didn't move.

Donna leaned down, putting her hand on Raven's other shoulder. "Raven?"

Raven finally looked up at her, tears running down in streams, sobbing softly.

"Raven, you need to pull yourself together enough to get him home and get help, okay?" Donna said as softly as she could.

Raven looked back down, breathing in unsteadily than back out. She repeated this for about a minute, before nodding, and in a blink, Raven and Beast Boy disappeared in a black bubble.

Rose sighed. "I should've done better intel."

"We didn't know that someone would get a lucky shot, Rose. It happens." Wally said, sighing.

"We need to get them rounded up for the police." Donna said, her jaw seeming set as she looked at the area around them.

"I'll get 'em. Donna, go ahead and head back to the Tower, take Rose with you, I'll send a message to Cy, Rob and Star." Wally said strictly.

Donna looked as if she was going to argue for a second, but sighed. "Okay. We'll see you back at the tower."

Jinx and Wally watched as they left. Jinx looked over at Wally, worried expression "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah it's just...never a thing I like seeing, ya know?" Wally said, almost distantly.

"Yeah..." Jinx said softly. They soon got to work gathering the goons to the ground floor, making sure they were all bound up for the police when they got there, leaving as soon as they could to get back to the tower.  
When they got there, Rose was waiting in the common room, sitting on the couch, maskless and staring at the blank TV screen. She was in a thinking position, hunched over with her chin resting on her hands.

"How's he doing?" Wally asked as they stepped out of the elevator.

"Stable, but still beat all to hell. Raven's been doing bursts of healing the second she gets an ounce of power back, but then drains herself dry. She's not moving from his side, but Donna's been keeping an eye on her, taking her some tea now." Rose stated looking down slightly.

"It's not your fault, Rose." Jinx said softly.

"It's not that, it's just...she really, really loves the green bastard." Rose said simply. "And I really hope she doesn't lose him."

In the infirmary, Donna arrived, carrying a tea set tray and setting it on a side table next to Raven, who ignored it as she continued to watch Gar's slow breaths. The quiet in the room was only broken by the heart beat monitor.

Donna breathed in and out for a second and asked the question that she had been holding in all evening since she got back to the tower.

"So, how long have you two actually been dating?" Donna's question was soft but clear.

Raven sighed. "Off and on for about three years now."

* * *

**AN: And that's chapter 7. Y'all are lucky, by the way. The original plan was to end this chapter right after BB's fall and the NEXT chapter reveal the length of Raven and Gar's relationship. On that note; I'm not too confident I completely hid that from everyone, hell I feel like there were a _lot_** **of moments were I felt like I had a megaphone going "This is using the secret dating trope!" over and over. What I do hope I caught y'all off guard was the amount of time that has been going on. Hell, if I have at least one person who reads that go "Well...shit." I'm happy. Ish. Anyways I have another mini-chapter to put up after this but I'm going to wait a day or so, let everyone who's been following this read this chapter than post it. Kinda important I thinks.**

**And review responses, all two of 'em;**  
**ChaosIsBeauty23: (never realized how many vowels are in the word "beauty" in quick succession. Seems excessive.) ^^ thank you. On the word count, really I don't know how it keeps happening like that, think it's just because I'm chatty naturally. On the leaning towards the comics; it's funny, because I never got into the Titans comics, and my only real exposure beyond the 'toon has been Gar and Raven's brief cameos in 52 and wiki articles. Everything else, I just wing it. Try to follow the buffet approach.**

**LurkingShadowWillow: As far as the freakout over the fight; excellent. Intended effect had. As far as the cursing making everything funnier; it's like dialog pepper, add enough and everything's better. Too much and it kinda ruins the dish.**

**Alrighty, as stated last chapter, song for the chapter title comes from Metallica's S&M album.**

**Next Chapter is: Well, 7.5 is going to be called "Bits" because it's not really a full chapter. Chapter 8 is...well I'll post it in the next one, haven't found a song that fits the mood I want yet.**

**As always thank y'all for reading, please review and keep being awesome! Peace!**


	8. Chapter 7 and a half: El Manana

** _IMPORTANT:_ If you're seeing this before reading Ch. 7, do me a solid and go back and read that one before this one. Thank ya**

**A/N: Okay so this one's a bit different; If y'all have been paying attention there's been little asterisks* in a few chapter, specifically 3 of 'em. These are the extended bits that continue on from there. Just pieces of fluff and dram, each section is labled for which chapter it came from so, enjoy and see ya after the chapter.**

**_ALSO_ _IMPORTANT_: I don't own nothin' of Teen Titans or the DC Universe. I'm just gonna reflect sadly on that for a sec. ...And done.**

* * *

**Chapter 7.5: El Manana**  
**  
**  
**Chapter 2:  
**  
Gar nearly skidded into the hall, turning into a mouse as he did so, running quickly down the hall, stopping at Raven's door, then looking down the hall, sniffing and listening for anyone else in the hall before shifting back and knocking on her door.

"Hey Raven, it's me. And uhm...just me, y'know, so I was wondering if I could-" Before Beast Boy could finish the door opened and he was yanked inside by Raven, who pulled him into a tight hug.

"I didn't hurt you too badly this time, did I?" She asked worriedly as she both looked up at him and waved her hand at the door's control panel, so it shut quickly.

"Not too bad, just knocked the wind out of me a bit and put a little bump of the back of my head, no biggee." Gar responded cheerfully, returning her hug warmly. Raven's hand went up to the back of his head, finding the bump when BB winced. She frowned slightly.

"Little bump, my ass. C'mon let's get that fixed up, sit next to the bed." Raven said, unwinding herself from him and going to sit cross legged on the edge of the bed.

Gar shifted slightly uncomfortably in his spot, rubbing the back of his head

"Rae, you really don't have to do this, I've gotten worse in training sessions, and I gotta te-"

Raven cut him off "My actions, my fault, I'll fix it. You can tell me what you need to while I'll heal you." She pointed at the spot in front her on the floor. "Now sit." She said sternly.

Gar knew better not to argue with her over these things, he just shook his head and smirked as he walked over and sat where she indicated that he should. Raven muttered some words to herself and her hand glowed with a white energy, which she then placed over the bump on his head, and held it there steadily.

Gar shifted a little, it always felt weird when she did this. Kinda like a cold burning sensation that swirled around the wounded area. He started talking to distract from it, "So, Robin, Star and Cyborg are going out of town. Bringing in Kid Flash, Jinx and Wondergirl to help us cover the city."

"Where are they going?" Raven asked, not budging her hand from it's spot, voice in it's usual calm near monotone.

"Dick and Kori are going out to visit Batman in Gotham and Vic's going to visit his dad in Metropolis." BB replied,shifting again to the point where Raven sighed. Wordlessly, she unfolded her legs and used them to pin him in place, each knee resting on his shoulders, and her legs crossed over his chest. He instantly stilled and she smirked.

'Works every time.' She thought to herself as she continued her work. To distract him, she began speaking, "I thought Vic and his dad were on the outs due to the entire "turning him into Cyborg" thing?"

"...Last I checked, I guess Batman brought it up in a way that got him to go, for some reason or other." Gar said calmly, still not moving but eyes slightly wide, flicking from one side of his head to the other to look at Raven's legs, face tinged a little red.

Raven finished, the energy slowly fading out as she healed the last little bit of the bump by pushing the energy into the spot, giving Gar a slight shiver. She then rubbed her hand through his hair, both to double check the bump being gone and because she loved doing so.

Gar leaned his head into her hand slightly, sighing as she ruffled his hair lightly. "Thanks, Rae."

"You know you don't have to thank me, it was my fau-" She started but he then kissed her leg softly which abruptly fizzled her brain and the overhead light in the room a little.

'Works every time.' Gar thought to himself "I know I don't have to, but I'm gonna anyways." He said, leaning his head back to look up at her, grinning that she was looking down at him, blushing.

Raven's brows furrowed in mock anger as she looked at him, still blushing. "I hate you when you're smug."

He just kept smiling up at her "Love you too, Rae." If possible her face turned a tad redder. Gar took the moment to push his luck "By the way, the entire sit thing could be very offensive as I, being all animals, am part dog. Not cool." He still maintained fanged grin.

Raven's eye brows raised slightly at this. "Bite me."

He sighed dramatically, still grinning "Well if you insist, I wouldn't mind-"

"Nice try." Raven interjected smirking, before he could get ahead of himself.

Gar's face and ears fell, still leaning back to look up at her. "Damn."

Raven leaned down and kissed his forehead lightly. "Maybe next time, Gar."

His face lit and ears perked up, "Really?" BB asked probably a bit too happily.

"Don't push your luck too far." Raven said, still smirking at him playfully.

He waited a minute,before inhaling slight before asking "So...I guess keep up the hiding everything from everyone going while they're here?" Beast Boy's face dropped a little as he asked, ruining the moment.

Raven sighed. She knew he didn't like hiding but he knew that having an open relationship made her way too uncomfortable, so they made compromises here and there.

"I don't see why, I mean if the others that are here all the time don't know, why should we let people staying for a few weeks know?" Raven asked in a slightly exasperated tone.

"Well...it could be like a test run, see if you can handle it." Gar said sincerely, looking up at her with almost pleading eyes.

Raven looked at him, biting her lip slightly. She hated doing this to him but it was all she knew to do. To hide aspects of herself she couldn't control well, even if one of those aspects was her very loving relationship with her secret boyfriend.

"Garfield, if I can't handle telling friends who have known us for years, why do you think I'd be able to handle telling it to people we only see, maybe, 5 times a year?" She didn't intend for it to come out as harshly as it did, but irritation had sunk into the statement a bit.

Beast Boy winced at his full first name, knowing he had begun treading dangerous waters." I don't know...I figured that would make it easier, I guess. It was just an idea, Rae." He said, looking down towards the floor, ears drooping as he did so. This hiding thing was wearing on him. He didn't say anything, mostly because she knew it. Dating an empath makes it hard to hide much of anything emotionally. But he did it because it made her comfortable, and he was willing to do that for her. 'Steve once said love can be harsh sometimes. Kinda understand that now.' Gar thought bitterly.

Raven sighed again, leaning forward to rest herself lightly on the back of his head, wrapping her arms in front of him loosely. "Look at it this way; we should have an easier time spending moments together. And I'll make it up to you, I promise. Just...let's at least wait a bit longer, okay?" She asked softly, her head resting on his hair.

Gar took his turn to sigh. "Okay..."

Raven kissed the top of his head, "Thank you...for being understanding."

'I don't understand but, I'll work with you regardless. Your love, your rules.' Gar thought to himself, sighing again, and just relaxing to enjoy her resting on him. Grumbling as he may currently be, he loves these little moments. He's beginning to think it's what's keeping him sane.

**Chapter 4:**

Raven wordlessly prepped a cup of tea, then went to settle next to Gar on the couch. Almost with no thought, they leaned into each other, his arm wrapping around her shoulders as her head rested on his shoulder.

"So, how did the time-of-girls go with those two?" Gar asked casually.

"They actually bugged me about _you_ of all people." She said, almost exhausted from the thought of the previous conversation she had.

"The entire time?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Just about." Raven grumbled.

"...They've been here a week, and they've figured it out?" Gar said in mild shock.

Raven sighed. "No, they just figured out that I like you. As far as I can tell, that's it."

"Wally seems to be on that same track. He bugged me after you suffocated me with the couch cushions." Gar chuckled, even though Raven looked down guiltily at the mention of the attack via cushions.

"So the three of them are all on the same track. This might be harder than I thought." Raven thought aloud.

"Well if it helps, I threw him off a bit." Gar brought up, hoping to shake any approaching bad mood.

"How?" She raised her eyebrows without turning to look at him.

"Told him the Mal-dragon story. And said that because I bugged you, the hall exploded." Gar smirking. Raven gave a small smile of her own.

"Did the same thing to the girls, actually."

The version that they had related was actually not entirely true...

**After the Malchior incident:**

The game ended with Raven winning, though Both Cy and BB thought it was a little odd to let the ref win. Seeing as how the past few days had been, they let it slide. Afterward, they filtered out of the hall, well Cy did, Raven and Beast Boy started wandering a bit farther down, towards the unoccupied rooms.

"...I'm still sorry about all of it, Rae." Beast Boy said suddenly, breaking the calm silence that had settled between them.

"Raven." She corrected before going on, "What do you have to be sorry about?"

"Well...I didn't help much with...you feeling...alone...and all..." Beast Boy stammered. To be honest, Gar had no idea where he was going with this, but he felt like he needed to say...something more. "And I just...don't...want to add to it, ya' know? I...really don't like the idea of hurting you like that again. Ever."

Raven stopped walking, face red, trying to think of a response. Beast Boy stopped too, turning to look at her.

"I...that's...thank you." She said simply, hugging him again. He hesitated, then returned the hug softly.

"You're...welcome." was all he could manage. They looked at each other for a moment, and without thinking, Raven leaned in and kissed him, which he returned in earnest. It was soft, inexperienced on both ends, but felt...right. They leaned into each other as the kiss deepened before...

Reality shattered back to them quickly as lights popped above them, three nearby door panels fried themselves and various dents appeared in the hallways, creating a large banging noise as this happened at once. Instantly they separated, staring at the halls around them, then back at each other, faces red. They could hear the thumps of Cyborg's boots, and knew the other two would be right behind him.

"Okay, here's what happened." Raven said quickly as Beast Boy nodded frantically to everything she said.

**Back to the present:**

"So what do we do now? Full on, 'they suspect something so no contact mode' like a winter ago? Because honestly, that sucked." Gar said, not remembering that memory as fondly as the last.

"No, I just think it's more of the same being careful. Being mindful of whose around. Wait until everyone's asleep before doing this. During the day, keep up the appearance..." She said before trailing off.

"That you hate me." Gar sighed as she flinched at the word.

"They know that's not true. You know that's not true." Raven said, actively hugging him.

"I know it just...feels like it sometimes. Especially the past half a year or so...you just seem to be going a bit more...violent with it." He said calmly, concern dropping into his voice. She didn't say anything, but continued to hug him, so he decided it would be best to drop it there for now.

They stared at the tv blankly, not really watching the movie, just enjoying each others company. Slowly, Raven drifted to sleep curled up next him, Gar having already passed out a few minutes earlier.

They didn't stir until the first few peaks of sunlight came across the bay and into the large windows of the common room. Gar's eyes opened reluctantly, looked around the room for a second, then down at Raven's sleeping figure, smiling to himself. 'Oh well, time to ruin the moment.' He thought as he started to shake her lightly.

"Rae? C'mon, we gotta get back to our rooms before the others get up." He said softly.

"Five more minutes." She grumbled as she pressed her face into his side.

"...Alright, but just five minutes." He said. 'Is marshmallow an animal?' he wondered to himself.

They stayed like that for another twenty, before starting to hear foot steps coming towards the common room. Instantly, Raven popped up and disappeared in a black orb as Gar became a green fly and buzzed out of sight towards the ceiling.

Donna walked into the room, groggily looking around, ignoring the fly buzzing over her head and past her through the open door to the hall.

**Chapter 6:**

Gar slowly made his way down to Raven's safe room. It's where she always went after an outburst, and that's where her scent was leading him. The entire way, he was cursing himself out for the argument. But his primary concern was Raven. Gar knew he had pushed too hard. Sure, she pushed first but he went across a line that he never, ever wanted to go across; the "Father" line. It was a low blow, stupid and not even fair. He knew it, Gar just wish he hadn't been so damn angry to think just a tad clearer.

He finally got to control area for the safe room, and noticed the elevator down to the room had the red "locked" hologram over the front. Gar sighed and walked to the window. He about to press the mic, but when he looked down in the room, halted. There were Ravens scattered in the room. All of them except the one hunched in the center were semi-transparent, each colored a different shade, fizzing in and out, apparently chattering. He couldn't hear what they were saying, it wasn't coming over the microphones. Gar had seen them before...it just seems like they finally seemed to break fully out of Raven's head, or were trying to...or something. She hadn't told him about this.

After a minute of watching the flickering Ravens, he finally pushed the mic button for the room. "Uhh...Raven?"

The other Raven's instantly disappeared, leaving the one solid one hunched over, but not looking up. "Go away, Garfield." Her voice was hoarse, worn out.

"Rae...I...I'm sorry-" Gar started to stumble out.

"I don't care." Raven said wearily.

"...That's a lie and you know it." Gar said into the mic softly.

"Then I need to not care." Raven replied bluntly, still not looking up.

"Rae, you can't just shut everything down. Hell, from what I saw, it looks like you can hardly control it all." Gar said, trying and failing to keep the annoyance out of his voice. There was long pause before he asked, "How long has this been going on, Rae?"

"Go away, Gar." Raven replied again, almost pleading.

"Rae, you can't just shut me out, maybe I can hel-" He started before being cut off by a large, shadowed version of Raven made of energy standing in front of the window of the control area slamming it's fist into the window, cracking it slightly while causing all of the runes on the sides of the room to glow brightly.

The voice was unnaturally deep and harsh "As this is entirely your fault, Garfield Mark Logan, I don't want your help..Just-" Raven's voice shifted back in as the image faded. "Please, just go away."

Gar stared and thought long and hard before pressing the button again, "If you need me, I'm here. Even if you don't want me, I'm here." With that, he began to walk out of the room, trying to ignore the Ravens beginning to flicker back into existence out of the corner of his eye.

Raven hadn't moved from her spot the entire time, keeping herself wrapped up in her cloak, crying softly, trying to ignore the thoughts and emotions flickering around her.

As Gar got into the elevator to get to ground level he thought of their first big fight. It had been before they even considered themselves a couple, hell he was sure Raven still didn't for some reason. It happened a few days after their first kiss.

**A few years ago:**

"What do you mean it meant nothing?!" Beast Boy asked, confused as hell. They had been assigned to do what patch jobs they could to the hall as punishment for their destruction of it

"Exactly what it sounds like, idiot. I...was emotional, and needed comfort and you were there. Simple as that." Raven said in an even tone.

Gar stopped what he was doing, honestly he wasn't sure, and stared at her. "Really? That's how you're gonna play that?"

"No, that's how it is." Raven replied flatly. "I'm sorry for the confusion."

"Are you saying that to me or you?" BB asked bitterly.

"What?" Raven turned to look at him, annoyed that he was keeping this up.

"You heard me. You initiated the kiss, and now you're telling yourself it meant nothing. Why?" Beast Boy tilted his head, playful smile on his face.

Raven's face tinged red. "That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard."

"That's not an answer."

"For your question, yes it is." She turned her back to him to pretend to go back to working on the door in front of her.

"Not really, you're avoiding it. Why?"

"Get back to work Beast Boy."

"I might if you give me an answer." BB picked.

"There's no answer to give." Raven deflected.

"If there wasn't an answer, you wouldn't be avoiding it." BB parried.

"There isn't an answer you want, how about that?" Raven side stepped.

"How do you know what kinda answer I want?" BB lunged.

"The answer you want is for me to say I like you. I don't. It was a mistake to kiss you, that's all there is to it." Raven stabbed.

Beast Boy's ears dropped, "Ouch, Rae."

"_Raven_." She corrected tersely.

They quietly began to actually get back to work before Beast Boy muttered "Still think you're lying to yourself."

"Are you talking to me or you?" Raven snipped back at him.

"Look, All I'm saying is, from what I know of you, _Raven_, is that you are rarely honest with yourself. If you feel something that you don't want to admit is there, it's not as far as you're concerned. That's it, done, think of that what you will." Beast Boy grumbled, before grabbing a pile of tools and trudging as far away from her as he could.

Raven just stood there speechless. He just made a valid point. Beast Boy, the idiot, snot green, relentless bad jokester just made a deep, valid point on her psyche. She wasn't going to let him know that, of course, but it was a shocking moment for her.

**Present:**

Gar sat on his spot on the rocks, staring at the waves. A few days after that, the Beast got released and unleashed a whole host of new problems, for him, the team and worse Raven. Neither of them talked about what Adonis had tried to do but both their hatred of him had lasted a long time for a reason.

He sighed, thinking to himself, 'Man, I really hope it doesn't take another traumatic incident to fix this one. Only thing that seems it would fix this is one of us dying and That'd just suck.'

A few years down the road, he would share that thought as a kinda round-about joke about him and Raven. Though it took a few years to be funny.

* * *

**A/N: So yeah. They've actually been dating the entire time. Wrote this actually when I did each respective chapter so...yeah. There'll be more stuff in the next chapter on it, but this is everything that's been important to mention that's occurred during the story thus far. Any more bits will actually be fully shown, no need to hide it and what not. Frankly, I just wanted to see if I could get away with trying to hide it writing wise. If I did, let me know. If I didn't, call me out on my hackishness.** **Also said I would name this chapter "bits" but when I was surfing my library for the right song that had the tone for ch. 8, I remembered I had the Demon Days album and yeah, that song works. Hell, in hindsight it could've been another name for the entire damn fic, but there ya go. **

**Damn, one day and I got a few reviews to respond to:**

**raven laveau: She admitted likin' him a few chapters back, dating him however...**

**dablman2020: Well, Rose did cause trouble. For that dude she stabbed. Thanks ^^**

**shugokage: Thank ya!**

**artemis1239: o_o Must've done something right, got all caps. Uhm, hope this is soon enough? It's gonna be a bit for the actual rest though.**

**Next Chapter is: Glycerine by Bush**

**As always; hope ya enjoyed this half-chapter, review as you _probably_ can tell I enjoy reading them and thanks for reading and continuing to be awesome. See ya next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 8: Glycerine

**A/N: Damn this took too long; Full notes at the the end.  
Also, btw, just so you know, totally don't own the Teen Titans or the parts of the D.C. Universe I borrowed to write this? Kay? Kay.  
**

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**Chapter 8: Glycerine**

**?:**

Gar opened his eyes slowly and looked around. Everything was blurry, but stark white.

"Oh great, I've been abducted." He muttered to himself.

"Not really, but a good guess." A female voice said in a pleasant, cheerful manner.

As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a woman in dark clothing with dark hair sitting in front of him, but he still couldn't make out anything beyond that and her short hair.

"Raven...?" Gar asked,unsure.

"Ehh, no, sorry about that." The woman said calmly. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed two things. It was not Raven, she was roughly as slim but her hair actually was black, and messy, tangled every which way. She was in full goth attire; baggy black jeans, loose fitting boots, a black tank top and an ankh necklace hanging from her neck. Her skin was incredibly pale and her eyes were black in the iris, the right eye having an Eye of Horus symbol around it. The second thing that he noticed was that she was sitting cross legged about three feet off what his brain was telling him was the ground. Not floating, like Raven does, sitting. As if the air was completely solid.

"...okay. Can I comment on how weird that is?" Gar nervously stared at the space between where she was sitting and the ground.

"You just did but go ahead." The goth woman said smiling.

"That's fucking weird." Gar said flatly.

She chuckled. "From your perspective, I guess it is."

"So...going to ask now, to keep me distracted from that; Who are you and where am I?" He asked, looking around at, well, nothing but white.

"I'm Death, and you're...well, dead." Death frowned slightly.

Gar turned to look at her quickly. "I'm-what?!" He blinked, looking at his hands and then at himself as much as he could, not noticing any difference. "I'm...I'm...dead?"

"For the moment, yes." Death replied succinctly.

**Jump City:**

Donna and Raven sat in the infirmary, a silence falling between them after Raven's confession.

"You know, everything makes a bit more sense now." Donna said finally.

"I would assume so." Raven said flatly, making a cup of tea quickly before resuming her watch of Gar's slow breathing form.

"So, if you're in a mood to keep being honest with me...how did it all...well...start?" Donna asked hesitantly.

"...Well...it's really hard to say. Because at first...it didn't. I did not want anything between us to happen, so nothing did. But like I said the first time you and Jinx pried..." Raven smiled softly, face tinging red, "He's relentless. So, for a while, I humored him. Or at least that's what I told myself I was doing." She turned to look at Donna, face falling slightly, "This was before everything with my father happened...so I guess part of it was me wanting to be happy with someone, to see if it would, if it _could_ happen...before I...before my father's plan for me occurred. And for a while, though I hated to admit it at the time, I was." She finished quietly with a small smile.

"And...after?" Donna, pouring herself a small cup of tea as well.

Raven sighed. "That's where things get complicated. He wanted to pick back up where we left off, I was still reeling from the revelation of having my own life belong to me that I really, really didn't want to settle into anything until I was ready. After explaining that to him for the...it must've been the fiftieth time it felt like, he finally agreed to let me have my space for a while. And have it I did. I opened up a bit over all, but I did my best to keep to myself at home more, hiding from the team when I could and more importantly, him. I don't know why, maybe just that part of my brain that still refused to admit that I liked him. That still kinda put him in this place of not being serious. Not just himself as a person, but the entire relationship we had. We were kids, having a kid's relationship. Puppy love. Nothing more than that, right?...and then...I started feeling lonely. Not, alone mind you, I mean, I spent plenty of time with the team. I had my friends. But something was missing. And Gar knew it...in a weird way. Gradually, he started working himself into my spaces. Asking me what books I was reading, asking me to teach him how to meditate, anything he could to spend time with me. And, weirdly, a few days before the war with the Brotherhood started, he flat out asked me on a lunch date."

"Just outright?" Donna blinked.

"Well, it was just the two of us, he made sure no one else was around, but yeah. No hesitation. And...I dunno, I guess I was in the right mood and said yes." Raven smiled to herself, remembering the day.

"I'm guessing it went well...?" Donna smiled, taking a sip of tea.

"Clarify your definition of 'well'." Raven raised an eyebrow, before inhaling slightly, going into the story...

**A few years ago:  
**  
An uncomfortable teenage girl stood in front of the cafe, arms folded, foot tapping. She blew her must've-been-dyed dark purple hair out of her almost purple blue eyes impatiently. She was dressed in a black tank top and tight, but comfortable looking jeans with large boots, which was fine enough; she had a feeling her currently fifteen minute late date was not dressed any better. The girl looked at and almost fiddled with a large, bulky ring on her finger but decided against it. She folded her pale arms again, and huffed again. 'Don't know how the bastard's late; he recommended the damn place.' She grumbled internally.

The goth girl jumped a little at a thud and groaning noise from an alley next to the cafe. She then sighed, watching as a young, slim, slightly tanned teen boy stumble out of the alley, trying to smoothing out an open wrinkled white and dull green plaid shirt. Underneath, he wore a black shirt with a "N7" logo on it, whatever that was, and baggy blue jeans with sandals. He looked around the sidewalk in front of the cafe before walking towards her, scratching the back of his head awkwardly, ruffling his already messy light, must've-been-dyed green hair. She looked him up and down and noticed something in his hand; a crumpled bouquet of flowers. Despite herself, she smiled softly.

"Hey..." He started awkwardly.

"Rachel." She said smoothly. He quirked an eyebrow at her, as almost to say "Really?". Rachel raised an eyebrow at him, waiting.

"Oh...uhm...Garmfhtlyd." He muttered the last part under his breath, looking down.

"What?" She leaned in, face skewed in confusion. He mumbled something even more incoherent this time and she glared at him.

After a moment of silence, he sighed, buckling to the pressure, "Garfield."

Another moment of silence hung in the air. Unlike him, Rachel lacked the restraint, "You're shitting me."

"I really wish I was." Garfield sighed. "Just...stick to Gar, okay?"

She smiled and nodded. "I'm going to have fun with that name, you know that right?"

"Wouldn't expect anything less, _Rachel_." Gar said with a wide grin. It was her turn to look down and grumble. "Oh! These are..." He held up the crushed, bent bouquet of flowers. "completely destroyed." Gar's face fell. Said destroyed flowers were why he was late. He let his shoulders drop along with the bouquet. He muttered "Sorry."

Rachel sighed, before reaching down, and taking the bouquet from his hand gently, removing the solitary untouched flower from the center of the group deftly and held it up. She smiled softly, face tinted red. "Thank you."

Gar blinked and then grinned widely. "Welcome." They stood there, her smiling softly holding the flower and handful of former flowers, him grinning like an idiot, before he coughed quickly. "Uhm, well...shall we?" He did a slight sweeping gesture with his arm to the door of the cafe.

"Might as well." Rachel said in a flat tone. As they walked towards the door, she casually tossed the crushed flowers behind a bush in front of the cafe, still holding the one good one. Gar looked sideways at her, raising an eyebrow, to which she shrugged. "Would you rather I hold on to the reminder of your fail, or your win?"

"Win. The win is good." Gar said quickly as they entered the cafe. It was small, lined with booths and, for lack of better term, simple. Wood lined walls, very few frills and quiet, well as quiet as any cafe in a busy city during lunch could be anyways. They stayed mostly quiet as they walked in and stood by a "Wait to be seated" sign. A kind-looking middle aged woman appeared in front of them, smiling broadly

"Just two?" She asked happily. They nodded awkwardly. She continued to smile, slightly more knowing, as she grabbed two menus and led them to a booth. "Alright, here you go, kids, Jean will be with you in a minute." As she turned, she winked at Gar, whose face went probably a deeper shade red.

They sat there in awkward silence for almost a solid minute, not looking at their menus.

"Do you think she knows we're on a date?" Rachel asked finally.

"No, 'course not." Gar said grinning. This got a smirk out of Rachel, with the tension broken, they both began looking over the menus.

"Well I see why you picked this place." Rachel said flatly, looking at an entire menu page dedicated to vegan specialties.

"Did you see the teas?" Gar's eyes didn't move from the page, but he raised a questioning eyebrow.

Rachel looked at him skeptically, but turned to find an impressive selection of teas, organized by brew type, ingredients and purpose. "You truly are a man after my heart." She said with as much sarcasm she could use to mask her inner joy.

"Kinda the idea." Gar replied with a grin. They fell into a less awkward silence as they read over their choices. The waitress finally came up, young woman, probably barely in her twenties, long brown hair wrapped up in a bun save a few strands.

"Hey, my name's Jean, I'll be takin' care of ya. Nice to see you again, Gar." She smiled at him, then at Rachel tilting her head slightly and raising an eyebrow. "And what's this? Brought someone with you this time."

At this point, it seemed that both Gar and Rachel's blushes had synchronized damn near completely. Jean looked between the two of them, smiling still. "Well, I know what you're getting." She pointed at Gar, who held up a finger to protest, before dropping it, realizing Jean was right. Jean looked at Rachel, "What would you like, hon?"

"Uhm...I think I'll just get a green tea with honey for now." Rachel said softly.

"Alright, I'll be back with your drinks, and Gar, we'll get your order started." Jean replied in a chipper manner, near snatching Gar's menu and walking away.

After the next awkward pause, Rachel finally asked "How often do you come here and what is your usual?"

"Like...once a week if I can help it and a vegan grilled cheese with fries." He said quickly. Rachel quirked an eyebrow at his usual, and he just shook his head. "It's damn good. Like. Heavenly."

"I'll take your word for it." Rachel began to eye the menu again. "Almost wanna get a burger to taunt you."

"Man, don't pull a Cy-Vic." Gar corrected himself quickly.

"Smooth." Rachel said flatly.

"Look, I'm usually here alone, so it's weird. Keeping cover and all in conversation. I mean, how often do you talk when you do your run abouts?" Gar raised an eyebrow at her.

Rachel lowered the menu enough to return the eyebrow raise, "How do you know about my days on the town?"

"Besides the fact you just told me?" Gar grinned as Rachel huffed slightly, raising her menu back up. He sighed, "You can't just be spending all that time in your room and suddenly have new books and stuff. There's magic, then there's hoping in everyone else's gullibility."

Rachel lowered the menu again to make eye contact at him, "You've followed me, haven't you?"

"No intentionally. Not many people keep that shade of purple and make it work, even pretty goth chicks." Gar grinned again as her face begin to tinge red as she lifted the menu again quickly. "I was out getting a game in holo, and just happened to see you at the mall. Admittedly recognized you first another way but...yeah the hair was kinda a give away."

"How did you initially recognize me?" Rachel asked, keeping a flat tone as she internally was frantically trying to find something to eat, or at least focus on the menu.

Gar looked off to the side awkwardly. "Uhm...I'm not so sure that's important, Rae-chel." He corrected himself again.

There was another long pause as Jean came back with their drinks, Rachel's tea and a water for Gar. She looked at Rachel with a grin, "So, made up your mind?"

"Y'know, I'll just make things simple, I'll have what he's getting." Rachel responded, maintaining a careful monotone as she handed the menu to Jean.

"Can do, it'll be a bit, we're still wading through the lunch rush so you kids have fun." Jean smiled, winking at Gar and wandering off again.

Rachel raised an eyebrow at this, then at a beet red Gar, deciding to take the moment. "So unless you want me to ruin your day remorselessly over that, how'd you first figure out it was me at the mall?"

Gar shifted in his spot, leaning his head down and crossing his hands in front of his face, grumbling something.

"I can't hear when you mumble." Rachel gave a small grin, finally glad to be on the offensive end of the conversation.

"Isorhemkinghsmeldthtiwsyu" was mumbled through Gar's hands.

"So what was with the winking?" Rachel asked, grin a little wider.

"I sorta kinda smelled that it was you." Gar said just barely at an audible level.

Rachel blinked, then here eyes narrowed at him slightly. "You can identify me by smell?"

"I can kinda identify everyone in the tower by smell." Gar said with a small frown.

"Little uncomfortable." Rachel said, sipping her tea.

"Says the girl who can read peoples emotions through walls." Gar sipped his water.

"Point." Rachel said, thinking for a second before grinning. "What do I smell like?"

"I am not going into this." Gar put his water down, and near buried his head in his arms.

"Is it really that bad to describe? Or do I just smell that bad?" Rachel teased.

"No it's just...weird to. It's like you having to explain what peoples emotions look like, I think. Different smells for everything that a person is really, and for different...uhm...moments. Like I said, it's weird." Gar said, looking up and resting his head on his arms as he looked at Rachel.

Rachel looked at him thoughtfully for a second. "It's like that for emotions. Just different...colors."

"Colors?" Gar raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but not like the ones for my emotions, that's just how they've divided over time, it's...like the color spectrum for emotions. It's weird to think about but that's the easiest way to explain it." Rachel said simply, before taking another sip of tea.

Gar took about sip of his water, thinking it over. "Hrm. You know, I didn't think we'd be talking work on this."

"We're not, we're talking about each other. Unfortunately, I think work just kinda follows us sometimes." Rachel said in her usual flat tones.

Gar shrugged "Eh, as long as it doesn't interrupt today-"

Then work interrupted.

"MUMBO JUMBO!" Was shouted as the obnoxious blue magician appeared in a cloud of smoke and glitter, waving his wand menacingly at the cafe. "Now, now, nobody get up at once, just a routine robbery by your average amazing magical thief, so if everyone could kindly start emptying their purses and the like, I can keep moving down the street.

Rachel and Gar quickly went under their table. In their cramped space, they looked at each other, both frowning near face to face.

"You had to say something." Rachel grumbled.

"It's not my fault the universe hates us." Gar said sadly.

"Right, well, how should we do this?" Rachel asked

"I guess teleport out, drop me outside on a building so I can swoop in and you teleport in, nobody knows, right?" Gar suggested.

Rachel stared at him. "That's actually a decent plan."

"I have my moments." Gar grinned, before kissing her on the cheek quickly.

Rachel went wide eyed as the bulb in the lamp above their table popped. "What was that-?"

"Luck." Gar kept his grin. "Should probably get movin'."

Rachel nodded before they were both enveloped in a small covering of black energy.

Mumbo had heard the lamp pop and it caught his attention. "The devil was-?" He began to ask before a rough circle of black energy came up from the ground, disappearing to reveal Raven. This got a grin out of Mumbo. "If it isn't my favorite nemesis!"

"I really don't put you that high on my list, so I really wish you wouldn't." Raven said flatly.

"What's the matter, all by yourself today?" Mumbo asked, pointing his wand at her before the window to the cafe crashed, as a green bird flew through and then shifted into Beast Boy, rolling to a stop next to Raven. "Or maybe not!" He then looked at the two, waiting a second, looking at the door and window. "...Is it really just the two of you?" He asked, confused.

Beast Boy nodded; "Really, dude, not worth the entire team. That and we were in the area."

Mumbo raised an eyebrow, "Just the two of you? In the area? Really? Why?"

Raven's hood went a little lower and Beast Boy shuffled a little. "Look, that's not important. What is important is kickin' your butt!" Beast Boy shifted into a wolf, jumping at Mumbo, who simply held up his hat, which sucked in the green wolf in less than a second.

"Really, you'd think you kids would learn by now." Mumbo said with a chuckle. Raven held up her hands to attack him before Mumbo pointed his wand dangerously at the hat. "Ah ah ah, wouldn't do that now. Besides, I've been wanting to do this trick with him for a while. Hocus Pocus!" He shouted tapping the hat. There was a fizzle of energy, before Mumbo smiled widely. "And now, a dead rabbit!" He went to reach in but seemed to find nothing, frowning. "Hold on." He said to a stupefied Raven and cafe. Mumbo reached his arm entirely into the hat, feeling around for a minute before pulling it out and scratching the top of his head in confusion. "That's weird, he should've been right-" A green gorilla hand reached out of the hat and grabbed Mumbo's arm. "Oh hell." Was all Mumbo got out before being dragged into his own hat. The hat then proceed to bounce and roll around of it's own accord, being watched with a bit of amusement on Raven's end and trepidation on the part of the gathered cafe goers. After about a minute, the hat finally stopped, rolling on the ground slowly. Raven walked over, picked it up and shook it a little, and Mumbo was thrown roughly to the ground as a green humming bird buzzed out, shifting into Beast Boy, who grinned.

"He has terrible aim for someone firing into his own hat." BB said cheerfully.

"Obviously." Raven replied dryly, looking at the beaten form of Mumbo on the ground, who was groaning in pain. "Looks like the show got cut short today."

Mumbo began to mumble "I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for you-" he was cut off by Raven kicking him in the side of the head, just hard enough to knock him out.

Beast Boy looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. Raven shrugged. "I hate that show."

"Okay." BB replied simply. He then looked around at the gathering crowd, then at Raven who gave a shared look of "we need to get out of here". He coughed quickly, "Well, the cops should be here for him a in a minute, we got to get going, we were on the trail of..."

"Killer Moth." Raven interjected in a bland manner.

"Yeah, so we better get back on that, glad you're all safe." Beast Boy grinned and they both disappeared in a black burst of energy before anyone could get closer to thank them.

Rachel and Gar popped up in the back of the crowd, trying to look through. "What happened?" Gar asked Jean who was taking a picture of an unconscious Mumbo.

"You didn't see?" Jean asked, jaw dropping.

"We kinda, uhm...hid under the table the entire time." Gar said, scratching the back of his head. Rachel nodded, both of their faces tinged red.

Jean raised an eyebrow but then shrugged. "Well, the crash was Beast Boy bursting in, and Raven had teleported in just before that. Titans, in the cafe I work at! It was awesome!" She said excitedly.

"Damn, wish we hadn't hid." Gar said, grinning. Rachel elbowed him in the rib when Jean didn't look at them to take another picture.

After a bit of clean up, the cafe resumed it's normal lunch pace, apparently a few of the cooks had kept going during the robbery. One of them had told Jean, which she relayed when Gar asked as she brought their food that "Robbery, yeah, whatever, fuck it. I'm not missing another order and havin' the chef yellin' at my ass over some cracked out blueman groupie." Admittedly, this was translated to edit out both the cursing and from Spanish, but that's aside from the point.

They took a walk in a large nearby park after the lunch, still having an hour or so before they had to sneak back to the Tower.

"I'll admit it, that was a damn good grilled cheese." Rachel said flatly, allowing him to hold her hand as they walked.

"Told ya." Gar said with a grin.

"Tell the others and you're dead." She added quickly.

"Thought that was your main rule about this anyways." Gar raised an eyebrow at her.

"True." She sighed. They settled into a nice silence as they walked aimlessly down the paths of the park.

Gar finally interrupted it, pulling her over into a quick hug, catching her off guard.; "Lavender and various middle eastern spices I can't hope to identify with the barest hints of brimstone."

Rachel blinked in surprise but didn't pull away. "What took so long for you to answer?" she grinned at him slyly.

"Wanted to make sure I got it right." Gar grinned back at her. "So, what colors am I?"

She looked him in the eyes, thinking for a moment. "Green, blue and violet." She began leaning towards him a little.

"I have no idea what that means." Gar said softly, leaning towards her as well.

"I'll explain it later." She said quickly before the building kiss connected passionately.

**The Present:**

Donna smiled softly. "That sounds like it went well to me."

"Yeah. I guess it did." Raven sighed, looking sadly at Gar.

Another lull entered the conversation, filled only with the soft beeps of the monitor.

"What color is he now?" Donna asked softly.

"No colors, he's not awake, and I can't really pierce the emotions of dreams, too abstract. Just a dull white right now." Raven replied quietly.

**Metropolis:**

"Yeah, Wally, I'll be heading there as fast as I can, going to see if I can get a hold of Kal, see if I can get the watchtower to teleport me there. Dick said he's gotta wrap up something in Gotham, didn't say what though. Yeah I know, it scares me too. Hopefully see you in a bit, dude." Cy's internal display moved the phone symbol down, hanging up the call as he finished packing what the small amount of things he needed for the trip back to the tower. This is not really how he wanted his trip home to end. Maybe earlier in the summer but...well, now he actually wouldn't have minded a few more days. He and his father had bonded over work, his dad impressed by Vic's ability to adapt new information in, and Vic simply being impressed by his dad being...well, a dad. That and they had probably put the prosthetic assignment a solid year ahead of schedule between the two of them.

Cyborg grabbed his small overnight bag that he had brought and looked around his old room for moment; taking in the difference of how it had looked when he arrived and how it looked now. Initially, it had been almost a sealed shrine to his old self, football trophies that he had left behind, pictures of him from local papers and from team photos. As the weeks had gone by since his return, it slowly had been taken up by computer parts, a modified work bench, and covered in small blueprints. Vic looked at the room and sighed. It was starting to feel comfortable again, like home but...duty calls. As he headed downstairs, he looked at his dad, sitting in the a chair in the living room area.

"Hey, dad...I'm...gettin' ready to head out." Cyborg said quietly.

"'Least you're telling me this time." Dr. Stone said calmly.

"...Dad, did you just make a joke?"

"No. You must have heard me wrong, or something. Get your ear's calibrated when you get back home, okay?" Dr. Stone smiled wryly as he stood up.

"I'll make sure to." Vic smiled back before giving his father a light hug. "I'll try and make sure to call at least once a week. To check on the project, of course."

"Of course. Oh, and I hope you don't mind but I went ahead and put a call in for you." Dr. Stone said as they broke away from the hug. Vic stared at his father confused, before hearing a knock at the door. "That's probably him now." Dr. Stone said casually, walking over and opening the door, allowing Superman to walk in.

"Dr. Stone, Cyborg." Superman said calmly, nodding at the two. He then smiled at Vic. "I heard you might need a lift."

Vic grinned. "Something like that." He looked over at his dad, "Thanks, dad. I'll...I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Sure thing, son." Dr. Stone smiled softly.

Vic and Superman left out the door swiftly, disappearing in a teleportation beam rapidly afterward. Dr. Stone sighed, walking back into the living room and settling down back down, looking at an open envelope and letter from the clinic. 'I'll tell him in a few weeks, I guess. After his friend's better.' He picked up his tablet and began reading the book he had been reading before Vic came downstairs.

**?:**

Gar was sitting on the ground now, somewhere between tears and confusion. "How did I...why did I...what the fuck happened?!"

Death sighed softly, unfolding her legs to stand up and walk towards him. "You took a tumble, hit your head. As for the why, don't go there, sometimes I feel it's above my head and I run this operation."

He looked up at her sadly. "We didn't fix anything. We never talked anything over. It just...ended." Gar collapsed to lay on his back, staring at the white nothingness above him. "That just doesn't seem fair."

"You act like I said your were truly dead. I said you're dead for the moment." Death said forcefully.

"What does that mean?" Gar grumbled.

Death sighed. "And I thought you were clever. It means, you're dead right now, for, if I remember correctly a little less than a minute. You're going to be revived and out for a bit, but you have more life in you before I pick you up fully."

Gar took it in, and sighed. As he continued to stare at the "ceiling" he began asking the first thing that went though his mind. "This feels way longer than a minute."

"You're a spirit right now, you don't have any need for time." Death said cheerfully, examining her nails.

"Wha?" Gar's face skewed in confusion.

Death sighed again. "Seriously, listen to your girlfriend more. Spirits and the like don't have an understanding of time because that's something really only attuned to the physical world. Where you are now, even if it's for only 30 seconds or so, feels longer because you're not in the physical universe as a whole, you're separated, thus, time doesn't really exist here."

Gar's face continued to be skewed in confusion as he looked up. "I think I get it, but that really hurts my brain."

"I'd get into why that doesn't apply either but I don't want to confuse you anymore." Death smiled.

He leaned his head to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "How thoughtful of you."

Death simply continued to smile.

"So why are you even bothering to talk to me, or show me any of this if I'm only dead for a minute?" Gar asked, deciding to continue to lie on the "floor".

"A few reasons. One, I always like to check on and make sure you and your kind are doing well. Two, you actually have an active higher spiritual awareness thanks to how you were healed so this is sort of a happy accident." Death counted off the reasons on her thin fingers, and then smiled happily after finishing the explanation.

"Your kind?"

"Heroes, heroines, what have you, people marked by Destiny to do great good. I try to do my best to police your spirits during these moments, make sure _he_ doesn't set up a link. Usually finds a way the longer someone is separated, mostly because I can only be everywhere at once for but so long." Death sighed.

"He?" Gar was put further in confusion.

"Don't worry about it, you hopefully won't even have to think about him ever. Better that you don't actually." Death said sternly.

"Oooookay." Gar decided to drop prying on that subject further from the deity or whatever she was. Picking and prying from Raven and the others is one thing, the embodiment of Death is completely another. But she was answering the simple questions, so he asked another; "When you say higher awareness...you're talking about my connection to Raven, right?"

"I was actually referring to your connection with Cyborg, but sure we can go with Raven." Death leaned over him and grinned.

"After all the shit today, she still went and healed me..." Gar sighed.

"Of course she did, she loves you." Death looked at him confused. "Why wouldn't she?"

"Well...it's just...been weird for a while." Gar said awkwardly. "This is really weird to talk about with you. Not because your a chick or anything but because you know, you're...death. Hell, shouldn't you have like a cloak and scythe or something?"

"You want to base how you think I should look off of images done from Europe at a time when people's biggest health idea was wiping shit with one hand and eating with the other?" Death quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Good point." Gar shrugged. "...so...uhm. How much longer am I going to be here?"

"Until my brother picks you up. Then you're in his realm and...uhm...for lack of better word, 'care'." Death said the last word with a bit of struggle.

"You don't seem to confident in using that word." Gar picked up on that quickly.

"It's not that Dream is uncaring he's just..." Death seemed to be grasping for words again.

A black raven landed next to her, opening it's beak and then talking in a scratchy voice. "Mopey."

Gar jumped, and rolled up and away from the raven.

Death looked down at the bird smiling. "Yeah, that works, thank you Matthew."

"You're welcome." Matthew the raven tilted his head at Gar's reaction. "What, never seen a talking raven before? And if you say no that's a lie so shut up."

Gar blinked. "Okay."

"Well that was fast." Matthew preened himself for a second than looked up at Death. "The boss is on his way, just had a minor nightmare hiccup."

"If it involves him directly, it can't be too minor." Death raised an eyebrow at the bird.

"Meh." Matthew responded.

"It wasn't that bad actually, just a few more than I anticipated for the evening." A male voice said before it's owner appeared. He was like Death in the sense that he was paper white pale and had a mess of black hair on his head. Unlike her, he was tall, gaunt and his black eyes had a distant shine in them, like a black sky with stars hung far away. He wore a loose black robe over himself, which had a moving image of fire dancing around the edges closest to the ground. The stars settled on Gar, appraising him. "Hrm." Gar simply stared back, unable of what to say or do. He felt very confident in the fact he was out of his league on this one. The gaunt man's face frowned and he looked at Death skeptically. "Why am I supposed to work with this one?"

Death sighed, before leaning over and grabbing the gaunt man's cloak to pull him down to her height so she would whisper in his ear. Gar did not hear the words, but the harsh tone and the pale man's admonished expression was more than enough to tell him that this might be blackmail of some sort. Death let go of the robe, letting the man stand back up, slightly frazzled, and raised her voice enough to be a volume that Gar could hear. "_And_ he might teach you a thing or two about how not to be a selfish asshole, little brother.."

Matthew laughed, to which Dream responded with a light kick at the bird, who flew up before the foot connected. The pale man's star like eyes settled on Gar again as his robes settled back around him, pointing at him. "Alright, let us get going."

Gar nodded; "okay, so what do I-" His question was cut off as they both disappeared in a large poof of smoke.

Death waved the smoke out of her scrunched up face. "Drama queen." She sighed, before fading out of the space she had made to talk to Gar.

**Gotham:**

Kori woke up later in the evening, having slept through Dick's various calls. She initially padded out for him in the spot next to her, finding a note placed near exactly where her hand first landed. She smirked, it was a skill that Dick had mastered within a few months of them being together, as she usually slept in later than him. She lifted up and read the note, face falling dramatically. She jumped up, floating in the room to find her clothes as quickly as possible and then flying out of the door and down towards the Batcave. She flew over Alfred as he was dusting a vase, which was blown over as she flew by. Alfred caught it deftly and put it back in place, continuing to dust it casually.

When she made it to the cave, she found Dick and Bruce staring at various windows full of notes and pictures on the large screen in the Batcave. She was slightly taken aback by Dick wearing his new suit, which was sleek black and a simple blue line in a vague bird shape going across the chest and down his arms. The mask was the same though, which was comforting in a way. Kori instantly walked over and hugged Dick, who wrapped an arm around her instantly. She did her best not to tear up as she asked "How is Friend-Garthfield?"

"He's alive, busted up pretty bad but stable. Raven's been draining herself trying to heal him and look after him, so Vic's going out to make sure she rests and take over for her." Dick said softly as he hugged her.

"Are we not going out there as well?" Kori looked at Dick with confused green eyes.

"Not yet." Dick sighed. He then looked back at the screen. "Someone's been trailing us on patrol, and I want to figure out who before we leave. I don't want anymore...surprises for our trip home."

Kori blinked, then nodded, staring at the screen. "Have we any idea of who has been doing the stalking?"

"Someone skilled enough to find him on patrols _after_ I randomize your patterns but not skilled or caring enough to stay hidden." Bruce interjected calmly. "They seem to mostly hide better in this area." He circled a 5 block radius of upscale apartments in a border area of Old and New Gotham.

"Is it...the Slade?" Kori asked hesitantly, remembering his patterns of stalking Dick like prey.

Bruce shook his head. "Deathstroke knows both to stay out of Gotham and also he's been in...seclusion since Trigon's defeat. Not quite retirement but staying away for the moment. That and he's too dramatic, would've shown himself by now, even just for a sparring match. He can never really resist fighting worthy opponents, which Gotham is full of."

Dick tilted his head slightly, folding his arms. "Why would he stay out of Gotham?"

"Gentleman's agreement." Bruce said simply. Dick and Kori raised their eyes, and he sighed, caving and telling the short version of the story. "He and I had a...run in, year or so before we started working together." He nodded at Dick. "After a few more fights, most ending in no clear winner, we decided to have a duel. No weapons, no gadgets, just hand to hand. I win, he stays out of Gotham. I loose, he'd kill me and collect the bounty on my head at the time. Needless to say, he stayed out of Gotham, honoring the terms."

Dick blinked for a second. "Seems he still had a grudge though."

"So it would seem." Bruce replied simply, tapping away at the computer, trying to get clearer versions of the pictures Dick had been taking discreetly during patrols to try and catch the follower. He frowned. "Whoever this is, he has enough of an idea on how small digital camera's work to stay enough in the dark to blend into what becomes the pixel fade."

Dick's eyes widened. "So, not just a stalker, but a clever one." He looked at Kori. "I had to be so lucky."

Kori tilted her heard at the screen again. "And we are sure the stalker is just after Boyfriend-Richard because...?"

"They've been following me since I started patrols solo." Dick stated simply.

"Hrmm." Kori frowned. "And you did not tell me because...?" She asked tersely.

Bruce smirked at the screen as Dick coughed uncomfortably behind him.

"Well, I...uhm...didn't want to give them a heads up that I knew they were following us, so I uhm...just kinda...kept it to myself?" Dick finished nervously.

Kori's eyes narrowed at him. "And you thought I would give this knowledge away _why_?" The question was reasonable. The tone was dangerous.

Dick struggled under the weight of the question. "I uh..well, you see I wanted to...uhm...well it was kinda like-"

Bruce was tired of watching him drown, so he cut him off "He wanted to see what they would do before chasing after them, which _you_, Miss Starfire, would have done in an instant."

Kori stood for a second, going through several reactions at once. She huffed up, anger rising, then deflated, realizing the point that they had made was true and then anger again at the assumption that she would've been unable to be "down on the low", and another moment of deflation that in a following situation, no she probably wouldn't be able to. She then settled on simply huffing out of the cave. "Well, when you boys are done studying Richard's admirer from afar, I shall be waiting to track them down _upstairs_." She punched a hole in some of the rock on her way out to let out a bit of the extra anger, and also as a warning that Dick was in trouble later. And so was Richard.

Bruce chuckled as Dick winced at the crunch of rock. He looked at Bruce as pieces of rock and dust continued to fall to the ground in a slow trickle from the hole, "Thank you, Bruce, I'm now a dead man."

"Not my fault you couldn't say it yourself." Bruce replied simply, beginning to tap away at the computer to narrow down locations for them to check on patrol.

**Jump City:**

Wally was staring at the ceiling of the common room, while laying on his back on the couch. Every now and then, he felt the need to do this, stay still and just think. It helped that his head was in Jinx's lap, who of course was trying to distract herself by reading. It didn't do much as it was a book loaned to her by Raven, who still had refused to move from BB's side. It was lovely to see the dedication and honesty, but she wasn't sure if Raven had really slept the past day. And no one could, or was willing to move her.

Both of them jumped as a white energy beam formed into two distinct figures in the common area, one the familiar image of Cyborg, the other the familiar but rarely seen in person from of Superman himself. Wally and Jinx sat up, not really meaning to stare but did so anyways at the conversation they were wrapping up.

"If you run into anything you can't fix, just give us a ring. We have doctors who specialize in meta-human care at the Watchtower for this kind of thing." Superman patted Vic on the shoulder while giving him a handshake.

"Thanks, Kal. I'll let y'all know after I do a full check up. I'm honestly not sure how healed up he is after Raven's healing so we'll see."

Superman nodded, then looked around for a second. "May I use the elevator? I think I'm going to fly back, maybe stop by home for a bit."

"Uhm, sure." Vic blinked. Most powerful man on the planet, still politely asks to use an elevator.

"Thanks." Superman walked past the still slightly shocked Wally and Jinx, nodding at them on his way to the elevator. "Wally, Miss."

"Hey." Wally said lamely as he and Jinx waved at the same time, almost exactly as the door closed to the elevator.

Jinx punched Wally in the arm. "You see Superman and you're only response is 'hey'?!"

"I've met him a buncha times before. Besides, I wasn't prepared and at least I said something." Wally rubbed his arm.

"Whatever." Jinx rolled her eyes then looked at Vic, keeping a slight frown. "Hey, Vic. Sorry you had to come home early."

"S'alright." Cyborg sighed. "Raven still in the infirmary?"

"Hasn't moved." Wally answered.

"Well, guess that's the first thing I'll fix." Cy said calmly, striding past them to the hall. When he walked into the infirmary, he noticed it was just Raven and Gar, the machine beeping the only noise in the room. Raven's head lifted at the door wearily, tired expression not changing as she looked at Vic, nodded curtly then looked back down to watch Gar. Vic set his small bag down next to the door, before sitting down next to Raven quietly, chair creaking slightly as he did so. He looked at the machines, his internal interface reading all the information from them in less than a second. Cy hesitated, then spoke softly "It seems like he's doing fine right now, everything's stable."

"I know." Raven replied simply.

"That means you can go lay down now." Cy said less softly.

Raven shook her head. "Not until he wakes up."

"Rae, we don't when that's going to be yet. And I know you're running off of nothin' right now. You need sleep, half-demon or not." Vic almost regretted saying the last part. Almost, he had to break her stubbornness somehow.

Raven winced, continuing to stare at Gar, not looking up at Cy. "I need to be here when he wakes up."

"And the second we figure out when that happens, you will be. **But** right now, you need to get some rest." Vic said sternly. After a pause, he added. "I am willing to carry you and use the override codes to lock you in the room and gas it, just so ya know."

"Good to know you still care, Vic." Raven smirked a little. She sighed, taking one last look at Gar, before standing up unsteadily, and slowly walking to the center of the room.

"Rae, do you need a hand?" Vic's eyebrows raised in concern.

"No, I'll be fine, I'm just going to phase right to my room." She shook her head, still a little wobbly.

"I don't think that's a good-" Before he could finish, Vic watched Raven become outlined in black energy, then watched it pop away from around her as she fell backwards onto the floor with a very tired "Oof".

A minute passed as both registered what happened.

Vic finally spoke up, "I'm goin to get Jinx to help you to your room."

"That would be a good idea." Raven monotoned.

**The Dreaming:**

The next thing Gar was truly aware of was that he was standing in what looked like an elongated version of the Tower's hallway. He blinked, staring around for a second before jumping as the gaunt man appeared next to him. "Gah!"

The man's star-like eyes blinked at him, then examined the area around them as Matthew hopped off his shoulder and looked around as well. The pale man gave a slight "Hrm." at their surroundings.

Gar relaxed and looked around himself a bit more. "Why are we in the Tower?"

"This is your portion of the Dreaming, my realm. It appears as your unconscious wills it, usually as where you consider the most to be home." Dream said with almost a yawn.

Gar raised an eyebrow at his bored companion, "You know, you really don't have to be here if you don't want to be..."

"My sister made a point of me being here; You need a guide to sort through your issues it seems, which we have access through your dreams, which I control. She seems to think it'll be good for me too." Dream huffed.

"Emotional blackmail?" Gar said quickly.

"Of a manner that you cannot fathom." Dream replied grumpily.

"Figured. So I guess these doors are my dreams?" Gar said, looking at the hall.

"Very astute." Dream sounded unimpressed. "I'm not entirely sure where we should begin, honestly. Let me think..."

"Well, I guess I should just open a door and see what it reveals." Gar walked over and pressed the open button on the pad of the door closest to them.

That is not the best idea-" Dream started to say before being cut off abruptly by a series of low moans echoing from the doorway, which was emitting a white light from inside. He tilted his head at the scene of three bodies twisting together in pleasure in front of him.

Matthew fluttered in front of the door "What do we have here-woah." His head also titled at the scene. "Well, that looks fun." The door shut abruptly as Gar hit the close button. Matthew titled his head to look up at Gar, "A blonde and violet haired lady, eh?" Gar said nothing, face beet red. Matthew continued on, "You gotta be a virgin, kid. There's, like, a billion ways that would not have worked that way, physically and...diplomatically." Matthew titled his head the other way in thought, "Though how the hell do you know if the violet's carpet matches the drapes-"

Gar cut him off "Alright, no more random doors, and for the love of_ God _does that damn bird have a mute button?" Gar's thumb jabbed in the direction of the raven.

Dream shook his head. "Believe me, if he did, I would've used it ages ago." He had a small smirk on his face as he motioned down the hall. "Let us go this way, it shall lead us to more..._proper_ dreams for this journey."

They began to walk down the hall, Matthew fluttering up to land on Dream's shoulder. "Don't know why we're going this way, we're passing the _fun_ doors."

"Please...please shut up." Gar covered his face with his hands, not wanting to inadvertently share anymore of his perverted dreams.

"Give the boy rest, Matthew. Besides, you know virgins are sensitive to teasing." Dream smiled as he watched Gar squirm as Matthew cackled while they continued down the hall.

**Gotham:**

Nightwing jumped and leapt from building to building as Starfire hovered high in the air above him.

"How is the new suit, Rob-Nightwing?" Starfire asked into her communicator.

"It's a bit lighter, and really, I never knew how much faster I'd go without the damn cape. Hopefully, I'll never wear one again." Nightwing said with a grin as he twirled over the side of a building, catching the side of a fire escape on the building next door and quickly climbing up back to the roof.

Starfire smiled above him. "I do not understand how anyone can to begin with but it worked for you." She watched him flip from her vantage point in the air, then looked back forward, face tinged red. "It did hide your butt, though."

Nightwing almost messed up his landing. "I guess that's a plus."

"I would very much like to think it is." Starfire grinned.

"Alright, let's focus. Batman said they should be actually living in this area, given the way the pattern mapped out." Nightwing said with a small cough.

"This is a large collection of buildings of apartments, do you know where the best point of beginning is?" Starfire looked across the area.

"I was thinking about running in a circle until they showed up." Nightwing said with a grin.

"That would be an impractical strategy, wouldn't it?" An electronically modulated voice said off to Nightwing's right. Instantly, Nightwing stopped, raising a birdarang up to throw in the direction of the voice. The voice chuckled "Did I spook ya? Totally spooked ya, didn't I?"

Nightwing couldn't see any movement in the shadows, but he could tell someone was there. They were good, or at least good enough to keep really still. "What do you want?"

"To talk mostly, but also for your Tameranean girlfriend _not_ to kill me right now. That would not be fun." The voice answered calmly.

Nightwing looked up at Star, who's hands were glowing with fire, waiting for the word from him. Nightwing made a hand lowering motion at her, than a gesture for her to come over to him. She stared at him puzzled for a moment, before the fire left her hands and she flew down to float behind him. Starfire folded her arms over her chest, settling on the most threatening expression she could maintain.

"Yup. Totally feel safer." The voice said, sarcasm dripping through the modification.

"What did you want to talk about?" Nightwing asked impatiently.

"This and that, Mr. Grayson." The voice said confidently. Starfire and Nightwing's expressions shifting into shock, which caused the voice to chuckle. "Change a costume, but can't change those moves. Or the girl."

"But I can cut off the change in your voice." Nightwing decided that the time for gaming was over, holding up a small device and clicked the button.

"What does-" Without the modulation, the voice was that of a young kid. "Oh, damnit. Where does he get all of those wonderful toys?" He asked in frustration, the shadows moving for a second as a crunch of plastic and metal was heard.

"Only going to ask once before Star flies in and grabs ya, step out where I can see you." Nightwing folded his arms.

"Yeah, okay fine." The owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows, revealing a boy in his early teens with shaggy black hair and blue eyes, wearing a black jacket zipped up over a red shirt and jeans.

Dick tilted his head at the kid, "Huh. Almost didn't see that coming."

Starfire had also tilted her head in the same direction. "I did not, in fact."

Dick sighed while asking, "What's your name and what do you want to talk about, kid?"

The boy bristled at the word kid, "My name's Tim Drake, and I want to talk to you about Batman, or rather, Mr. Wayne."

* * *

**A/N: Phew! That one took a bit to get to work right. had a few days of absolute nothing until I finally was able to wrang the writing back in. Took a side trip into trying to figure out how Adam Hughes draws women so well and break down his art style (thus far, I have been unable to do so.). On a side note, his version of Starfire is actually pretty close to how I kinda picture her in this story. Kinda. Less poofy hair, I really don't like the poofy hair from the comics. Anywho. This chapter kinda went a little all over the place; Little bit of Sandman here, some more stuff from the comics here, bit of depressing stuff and some good old fashioned fluff. It was actually going to go on longer but I have a kinda mental limit for my chapters when it hits near 30 pages in OpenOffice, starts slowing down the program for some damn reason. So all that is getting shuffled over. Which is fine. For me. Also, this chapter has not been wife approved, so there may be a few hiccups hear and their (Now wife approved, while hating that joke there). Anyways, onto reviews!:**

**LurkingShadowWillow: The secret couple trope is one of my favorites, it just seems to fit them well. If you thought those were awkward, I'm hoping I topped it with the date above. As always, thanks!**

**SlyphofSpace: Totally fist pumped when I read that review. I really felt I made it too obvious. As for the other characters, just felt like the right thing to do; they're in the GO! comic, and if this is (as I keep having to remind myself sometimes) in the cartoon's universe, I figure that stuff is mostly cannon. Thanks ^^**

**ChaosIsBeauty23: Also fist pumped when I read that. I love picking the music for the story. I could probably go on for a paragraph about what it all means but really, that'd just probably bore everyone. The basics of it are, well, first three chapters it was what I was listening to at the time, well, 1 and 3, 2 was just for the Batman refrence. After that I started going with songs that'd match the chapter fully. Hope this one matched up for ya too. And thanks ^^**

**CraneLee: Thank you. It's weird, cause I guess I'm my own worst critic, I don't see the well written aspect, but I keep being told it is, so I'll trust y'all. ^^**

**Okay, now for a bit of straight talk. Lemme take off my glasses to make it real;**

**Nevermind, can't see. Alright. So there's probably going to be a few more pauses in updates; Mostly because I'm starting to stretch myself a little by working on my drawing again as well, been neglecting that too long. On the bright side, I do have the sequel to this story and the next story after that, and maybe another after that if y'all can put up with me that long and I can keep the momentum going for it. I will say the next story in this little universe I've set up is near pure comedy, based mostly off a certain movie about a certain epic hangover. After that, more of this, just trying to move the Titans from the cartoon further in the future, some villains here, a crisis there. Normal superhero stuff. Also have a bunch of little gags that I'm still debating on doing as a bonus chapter in this story, or a completely separate story, if y'all have any suggestions on that one, I'll take 'em gladly.**

**As stated; chapter title song by Bush.**  
**Next chapter will be Crystalised by The xx, but honestly the Gorillaz cover fits the tone better.  
Added note: Scratch that, the original does better. The switch from male to female singer actually fits what I'm aiming for better. Just wanted to throw that in there.  
**

**As always, thank you for reading, would you kindly review as, of course, I enjoy the hell outta them and thank you, all of you, for continuing to be awesome as hell!**


	10. Chapter 9: Crystalised

**A/N: Extra strong M warning for this chapter. You'll know when. Rest of the notes at the bottom.**

**Legal Notice: I don't own any of these characters or the D.C. universe in anyway shape or form. I mean it, Steve. Stop calling. It's creepy.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Crystalised**

**The Dreaming:**

Dream looked from door to door, his star-like eyes deep in thought. Gar looked at the doors blankly, not really sure what they were doing.

Gar interrupted the silence, "So...do we just go through random dreams until we figure out what I need to from this or what?"

Dream sighed. "If it was a normal task of going from dream to dream, you would not need a guide, would you? No, this is something that requires a certain dream, something that contains the memories pertinent to your situation."

"Which situation? The entire 'apparently in a coma' thing or the 'I had a no holds bared fight with my girlfriend' thing?" Gar folded his arms as he frowned.

"I am going to go with my instinct and believe it is the second of those. The coma will solve itself, in time." Dream said simply, hand to his face in thought for a moment, before looking down the hall, back the way they came. "Hrm."

"You're looking at where my dirty dreams are and thinking a bit too hard there, man." Gar looked nervous.

"Maybe I was wrong in presuming they would not be helpful...one in particular will be a good start." Dream began walking back down the hall.

"No it wouldn't, you had the right idea the first time!" Gar said a bit too late as Dream was already a ways ahead of him. "Goddamnit." He grumbled after Dream. "Stupid dream king and his stupid pervy bird."

"You know, in this realm I am neigh-omnipotent, so I can hear you." Dream looked back at Gar, eyebrows raising slightly as his star eyes settled on him for a second before turning back towards the doors, trying to find the right one.

Gar stopped and sighed. "Goddamnit."

"Can't win today, can ya kid?" Matthew cawed at him.

"You have no idea." Gar muttered.

**Gotham:**

"You have a **_lot_** of explaining to do, kid." Nightwing folded his arms. "For one, how'd you figure it out? For second, why not sell the info, half of the scum here would kill for that, not to mention the one's that'd pay through the nose."

"Okay, first off, I'm not a kid, I'm 13." Tim folded his arms in a huff.

"Still a kid by our books." Nightwing raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, whatever." Tim grumbled. "I figured it out through watching you, actually. My parents and I were at your last show at the circus, so that stuck with me, being 4 and all. Anyways, as I grew up, I kinda sorta became a Batman and Robin fanboy. Devoured any news footage I could find, youtubed the shit out of the videos people took when that started happening. And as I got older, I realized there was something familiar about your moves as Robin. So, I started digging and eventually, after about a year, made the connection that you were Dick Grayson. And then if, Dick Grayson was Robin, and he was adopted by Bruce Wayne...well, that was pretty elementary." Tim smiled modestly, scratching the back of his head. "And I guess the first part answers the second question, I mean, why the hell would I sell out my favorite heroes like that? Kinda stupid."

Dick was stunned. "You figured it all out...just by being curious?"

Tim nodded.

Dick and Kori spoke at the same time, both with shocked expressions. "X'hal" "Jesus."

Tim shrugged. "I live on my own most of the time, so I got a lot of free time."

Kori tilted her head, "Where are your parents, Young-Tim?"

He sighed softly; "My dad's an archeologist, so he's always out on trips and digs and stuff, mom passed away a few years ago and my step-mom just kinda...ran off a year ago. Probably another reason why Dad doesn't stick around home."

Dick looked at Tim sadly, "No school or anything?"

"Well not right now." Tim said wryly. "Hence the following, I was actually hoping you would've caught me sooner. But I get it, playing safe an all."

Dick nodded, "So...if you don't want to sell us out, what do you want? Blackmail money?"

He scrunched his face in disgruntlement, "No, I actually want to help."

"How?"

Tim inhaled deeply then breathed out before keeping as serious a tone as he could "I want to be the new Robin."

**Jump City:**

Raven woke up slowly, looking at the clock. Eight in the evening, she had been out about 6 hours or so. Her nap was nice, if a little restless. She had dreamed of Gar, it looked like he was aimlessly wandering the halls, following a tall, gaunt man with stars for eyes and a raven. She felt like she had recognized the other figure but Raven couldn't place from where so she dropped it for now. Dreams had their own methods about them, so she rarely pried unless she had the gut feeling to do so. Currently, her gut feeling was saying "Food. Now."

As soon as Raven opened the door to the hall, her sense of smell was overwhelmed by something that smelled at once amazing and heart attack inducing. 'Oh good, Vic must be cooking.' She grumbled internally as she walked towards the common area. When she hit the main room, she noticed a few things slightly out of place. Rose had completely hijacked the TV, watching a Stallone action movie from the eighties (they all blended together to Raven), Jinx and Donna were chatting in soft, hushed tones, and Wally was zipping around the kitchen, trying to steal the finished bits of dinner. Everyone noticed her walk in and there was a slight pause in all the actions, before Rose simply looked back at the screen and Wally suddenly invaded near all of Raven's vision.

"Awesome, you're up just in time!" He said excitedly.

"For what?" Raven monotoned wearily, quirking an eyebrow.

"Bacon-wrapped cheeseburgers!" Wally near burst with delight.

Raven maintained a flat expression before looking over at Cyborg, who was still getting everything wrapped up, in more ways than one. "Have you been watching that damn youtube cooking thing again?"

"No!" Cy shot at defiantly. She glared at him until he cracked, "Okay, maybe a little. But this is going to be awesome, even made you one!" He grinned ear to ear.

Raven's glare continued as her eyebrows furrowed. "Why is no one watching Gar?"

Cyborg sighed. "I _am_ watching Gar; the camera's and all electronics in the Tower are hooked up to my brain, remember?" He tapped the metal side of his head lightly. "I've been keepin' the security feed and vitals in a window off to the side. He's still sleeping it off. Doing better, I think your patch jobs put him almost two weeks ahead of normal recovery, but he's still out of it for the time being."

Raven sighed. "I should at least be in ther-"

"Nah-uh. You're gonna sit down, you're gonna eat, and you're gonna relax." Vic said sternly, glaring Raven down. They glared off at each other, a small silence in the room save Rose, whose attention hadn't left the TV, whistling the theme from "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.". After a minute or two of whistling, Raven's eye twitched.

"Fine, but I only need a half of the burger, if that. I really don't think I can stomach that much meat right now." Raven grumbled, while thinking 'Hell, I don't think I stomach _any_ meat at the moment. Damnit, Gar. Not even here and he's still pushing his vegan agenda.'. Raven walked over to the couch, sitting next to Rose on the side closest to Donna and Jinx, who she noticed promptly stopped talking. After a minute of protracted silence, Raven looked at them, "Seriously, try and make it more obvious next time, I could barely tell you were talking about me." She said in a biting tone.

Donna looked a little hurt, as Jinx furrowed her brows at her, "Well, excuse us for being worried about a friend."

Raven sighed, feeling terrible. "I'm sorry it's just-"

"Stressful, we know." Jinx breathed out as well. "Donna was just...filling me in, that's all."

Raven looked at Donna, not glaring but the hints of it were there. Donna looked away, looking pretty guilty. Raven maintained the look before sighing. "It was gonna happen sooner or later." She slumped into the couch, wrapping her cloak around her. "Guess sooner is better." She grumpily monotoned.

Donna sighed, "I'm sorry, I just thought it would be fair if at least Jinx knew."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Just Jinx?"

Donna nodded.

Raven looked over at Rose, "Did you hear anything?"

Rose didn't break her eye contact with the screen, as Stallone was now stabbing a guy, "Hear what, now?"

"Don't worry about it."

"'Kay." Rose said simply, smirking. Raven eyed her for a second; if she did know, she wasn't saying, but that's fine. Mean's she'll keep it to herself.

Wally ran up behind the couch. "Foo' beh reahey." He spoke through a burger.

"So I see." Jinx said dryly. "Shave some for us, honey."

"No pramashz." Wally zipped back to the the table.

Raven looked at Jinx and Donna, "Impromptu time-of-girls after dinner?" Donna and Jinx nodded quickly. Raven looked over at Rose, "Uhm..do you want to join-"

Rose cut her off "Does it involve drama?"

"A little." Raven replied simply.

"Thanks but no thanks." Rose responded.

Raven blinked at her, gaining just a few more ounces of respect for the white haired woman. "Okay."

**The Dreaming:**

Gar was standing in the center of the hall, tapping his foot irritably as Dream was looking between two doors, hand stroking his chin in thought. "I thought you did this normally, guide people and what not." Gar grumbled.

Dream looked back at him with a light glare. "I guide through dreams. Hence the name. I rarely take such direct interaction unless there is a need for me to do so. Sorting dreams directly and properly takes time." He looked back at the doors. "I am looking for the right idea, the right dream that'll put you on the best course most quickly."

"Because you want me out of your spikey hair?" Gar raised an eyebrow.

"No, because time is becoming of the essence. Well for you."

"I thought time doesn't matter here?" Gar tilted his head in confusion.

"That counts when you're a spirit. Time speeds up a little in the dreaming. At least for the dreamers." Dream's tone was slightly exasperated. "I believe it's already been two days in your world, and I think we only have three."

"Oh. Well. Shit." Gar's arms fell to his side.

"Shit indeed." Dream agreed.

Gar blinked "Wait, why do I have only three days?"

"The universe loves that number and on the third, well...I don't want to spoil the surprise but you'll have to wake up. You'll understand." Dream explained calmly.

"...Does your family take lessons on being cryptic and weird?" Gar eyed Dream narrowly.

"It is a trait that comes to us naturally, I'm afraid." Dream shrugged. His star eyes finally settled on the door to his left. "This. This shall be the gate. The key. Excellent." He motioned for Gar to stand next to the door panel. Gar did so quickly, then stood and waited. A minute went by before Dream looked down, frowning. "Well, open the door."

"Why do I have to open it?" Gar asked impatiently.

"Your dream, your subconscious, your responsibility. I'm a guide, nothing more." Dream said, equally impatient.

"Alright, alright." Gar sighed and braced himself, 'This is really going to be uncomfortable.' He thought while pressing the open button to the door.

The doorway was filled with a dull yellow light, but everything in the "room" was obscured. Dream looked at Gar, and simply gestured with his hand towards the entrance. Gar gulped and stepped through, allowing himself to be enveloped by the light, forcing him to close his eyes. When he opened his eyes, he was standing in a large, open area. It looked to be out in the wine country; smooth rolling hills covered in grass that looked like it was dying, patches of green in a sea of dull, pale yellow. A hill stood out above the others, and single, large tree was there, surprisingly healthy given the state of the grass around it. He saw himself on one side of the tree, and on the other was Raven, both of them naked and near curled up in a fetal position, backs resting on the center of the tree.

"Why the hell was this in the naughty section? Nothing's happening." Matthew grumbled from Dream's shoulder as they appeared next to Gar.

"Context is everything." Dream said simply, observing the scene, then looking down at Gar. "Well?"

Gar couldn't pin the feeling...well he could he just didn't want to acknowledge it. Guilt...immense guilt. "Why...am I feeling guilty?"

"It's your symbols. Your story, Garfield." Dream moved slowly behind him, looking over the fields, analyzing them carefully. "The fields are familiar, but broken, are they not?"

"We...we took a trip out here last October. Well not here, but ya know. I mean, the only way to get to nature in this state is to get out of the city, right? We offered different reasons and different trips, pretended to both be upset when Cyborg told us to just go together. Much fake grumbling. Much private celebrating. A first chance on our own." Gar stared at the tree. He was trying to pin it down. "We're the roots of the tree...that's what that is." Gar sighed. "And we're on other sides of the tree because I fucked up. The grass is dying...make it's way to the tree, because I fucked up."

The sky that was clear slowly began to build into dark clouds, a wind blowing through. Gar looked down, remembering the entire trip; or at least part of it;

**Over a year ago...:**

"Gar...please..." Raven pleaded. Her strained voice rang throughout his soul. When they did get to this point?

**Hours ago;**

When they had gotten to the hotel, small out of the way place he had nearly pounced on her. Wrapped his arms around her and attacked the weak area of her neck. She had jumped initially before leaning her neck towards him, sighing lightly.

"You certainly waste no time." Raven said, near breathless.

"What can I say? You have that effect on me." Gar grinned, resting his head on her shoulder.

"I can tell." She replied flatly, quirking an eyebrow at him as her face tinged red.

Gar's face reddened as well, catching the hint, unwinding his arms from her quickly and backing up a step. "Oh-shi-erm...sorry." He said quickly, trying to cross his legs a little.

"I didn't say you had to move." Raven said wryly, grinning ever so slightly before walking further into the room to drop her bag. He blinked in his spot for a second, before shaking his his head for a second.

"You are a temptress, you know that?" Gar raised an eyebrow at her as he tossed his bag on top of the dresser. They had actually gone for a nicer hotel that didn't have any TV's in the room, just focused on emphasizing the beautiful area around it. It was well out of the way, and the rooms were practically divided mini cabins, all with paths leading back to the main lobby area. They had chosen these features for a few reasons...

They had been...skirting the edges of sex for a while. Never getting quite to that point just, moving around in the region. Heavy petting here, a mouth applied there...small things. The main problem that they skirted up to was two-fold; Both were incredibly nervous about the idea of it. Sure, they had both watched porn at some point (it took Gar at least 6 months to drag out of Raven that a good chunk of her books were romance novels that she "enhanced" to look like tomes), so they knew what to expect. What to...do. In practice however...they were both nervous. It was one thing to flirt, tease and make all sorts of suggestions. It was completely another to follow those up; to touch, grope, kiss, suck, bite and apply pressure to sensitive areas. These were new things for both of them, and they had discovered Raven had...difficulties applying this. If a kiss could destroy a hall, both were slightly terrified of what an orgasm would do. So they had moved slow. Almost methodically. Gar had been impatient initially, but he did his best to move at her pace. Raven was appreciative...and showed it in quite a few ways. Which Gar didn't mind, he just...didn't feel it was fair. A one sided kind of thing. Hopefully this trip would end that.

But that was all for later, right now, it was time for settling in.

**Later;**

When they had got back from the very nice, very fancy dinner that they had gone to, Gar had near pinned her to the door to their room, the deep kiss broken by Raven, who was breathing heavily.

"One...moment...let me just get the-Ah!" She gasped when his teeth hit her collarbone, closing her eyes slightly, and having to use the door and his arms he had around her waist to hold herself up for a moment. She felt his hand moving up her leg, sliding her long, blackish-blue dress up slightly, sending sparks throughout her. She sighed before grabbing the wrist of the traveling hand, which stopped. Gar pulled his head up to look at her, hazy but understanding.  
She breathed for a minute, collecting herself, before saying softly, "Couldn't wait for me to open the door?"

"I've been staring at you in that dress since you put it on all evening, holorings or no, that's torture." Gar said in almost a low growl.

"One could say the same for having to stare at you in the suit." Raven raised an eyebrow, smirking as her hand stealthily unlocked the door behind her back. "You clean up nicely." The door popped open, allowing her to disappear inside quickly, almost causing a slightly stunned Gar to stumble over.

"Oh, c'mon, that's not fair." Gar said into the dark room, closing the door behind him and near instantly taking the holo ring off, skin color changing back to normal in an instant. They had worn the clothes over, half for fun and half because they have discovered that the rings' projected clothes are shit when really close to people. Gar looked about the room, sighing. "Y'know I can still find you in here, lights or no."

"Who says I'm trying to hide?" Raven said playfully from the dark, a slightly warm large piece of soft cloth hitting Gar's face as she said so. He pulled it off and squinted at it, checking to make sure that his nose was right in confirming it was Raven's dress. It was. "Okay, that's just mean."

"Oh, and pushing me up against the door wasn't?" Raven's voice asked from the dark.

"No, that wasn't." Gar grinned at the dark, following his nose to her scent as he removed his suit jacket and kicked off his shoes. She had to be on the bed, from the smell and where it voice sounded like it was coming from.

"And why is that?" She tried to maintain her normal flat tones but failed slightly.

"'Cause I did it, that's why." Gar leaned on the bed, crawling towards where she was slowly.

"Oh. Well that's fair." She tried regain her normal sarcastic tone a tad as she felt him crawl over her, feeling his breath line up with her face.

"Damn right it is." Gar said lightly before kissing her deeply as she wrapped her arms and legs around him.

**This moment:**

"Gar...please..." Raven pleaded breathlessly.

Gar's brain went over the entire evening that had let up to where they were at the moment. It, seemed to have gone well, and everything seemed to go smoothly...but at this moment...

"Please...just...wait..." Raven looked at him, eyes wide.

She had been saying that over the evening as they kept getting closer to this moment. She didn't really stop him but just kept asking him to slow down a bit. And he didn't. 'Isn't that why they were here?' He had thought. And she was enjoying herself, he knew it. Or did he?.

"Gar..." She looked up at him and he saw it in her eyes; abject terror.

And it all clicked with him; She wasn't ready for this much yet...and he just had kept barreling through and now they were here; he was over her. He was...ready...as was she; they hadn't quite...done anything. A simple movement and they would be but he had stopped when she finally fully spoke beyond pants and moans.

And all at once, Gar felt like the largest known piece of shit in the universe.

He breathed softly, looking at her eyes, ears dropping as he sighed and rolled himself to lay next to her on his side, back to her so he could regain his brain, beyond the guilt that was eating up at him. Raven breathed heavily for almost a minute, staying on her back before rolling around wrapping her arms around him from behind, hugging him.  
"...Thank you." She said softly, to which he said nothing.

They didn't do anything else the rest of the weekend. They actually checked out early and headed home, the drive in the rented car being very quiet, no speaking beyond what was necessary. A precursor to the next couple of months for them...

**Back in the Dreaming:**

Gar had sat down, was crying to himself softly. Rain had begun to pour throughout the area, soaking him to the bone but he ignored it.

"Oh, goddamnit..." Matthew shook his feathers lightly, but it didn't change his level of drenched.

Dream sat down next to Gar, his black hair and cloak clinging to him but he appeared unaffected by the change. There was a few minutes of pause, him letting Gar cry silently before speaking. "You have a lot of will."

Gar looked over at him, confused. "What?"

Dream raised an eyebrow at Gar; "I watched the memory with you." He pointed up, "This is my world, remember?...You have a great deal of control."

"If you saw what happened, then you're lying." Gar folded his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them, trying to get a semblance of warmth.

"Really? From what I saw, you stopped before the situation got worse." Dream said softly.

"I was almost a goddamn rapist, that's what happened. Hell, I practically am for what I did." Gar pushed his face into his arms.

"You do not listen to yourself well, do you?" Dream asked, causing Gar to look up at him with another confused expression. " 'Almost', 'practically', but not 'was' and 'actually'. You had enough will to know when to stop. You respected her enough to do so. Not...not many can say the same." Dream looked off to the side, star eyes staring into the distance in a distracted manner.

Gar mulled it over as he looked ahead, the rain beginning to lighten slightly. "I don't think she's still forgiven me."

"I think you might have it backwards, kid." Matthew said, hopping on the ground next to Gar. "I think you mean you haven't forgiven you." Gar continued to stare ahead, grumbling internally at the raven's words. Matthew sighed and continued on, "Man, she hugged and thanked you for stoppin' afterwards. She continues to be with you, and hell, she put you weeks ahead of healing you. That's a weird way to say she's still mad at you."

Gar looked down at the raven with a light glare. "She also threw me into glass, a wall has thrown things at me, nearly suffocated me and refuses to actually be public with a relationship, what the fuck else could it be?!"  
Matthew tilted his head. "I dunno, what else could you have done?"

Gar narrowed his eyes...then it struck him and he put his head in his arms. "I cut everything off afterwards. That's what I did."

Dream looked down at Gar sympathetically, "You could not stand the guilt."

"Felt it every time I looked at her." Gar said softly, before groaning, trying to push his face into his arms more. "And if she actually didn't really blame me for it...goddamnit." he sat his head up a little. "She'd blame herself for it all. And then when we just began doing what we did normally, I made sure it was completely on her terms...which stressed her more...which led to all..." He put his head back down into his arms. "Goddamnit."

Dream put a comforting hand on Gar's shoulder. Gar blinked and looked up at Dream, who was smiling lightly at him. "You have everything you need to put it back together, though, especially the most important part."

Gar raised an eyebrow at Dream. "Recognition that I've been a selfish jackass?"

"Well, that helps, and...just remember two can play that game...but no. You love her, correct?" Dream asked carefully.

Gar nodded. "Yes."

"Then you will be fine." Dream patted him on the shoulder, before looking at the area around them. "And it looks like time is up."

Gar blinked and followed his gaze as strips of landscape seem to tear away, leaving a stark white, blinding light.

"Good luck, Garfield." Dream said with a small smile as he and Matthew faded away as the landscapes reshaping rapidly increased and Gar's vision was filled with white light.

**Gotham:**

"You want to what?" Nightwing blinked.

"Be the new Robin." Tim said sternly.

There was a small pause as Dick stared Tim up and down. The kid had to be crazy; the last Robin had _died_ not too long ago, horribly. He just gave up the position _today_. What the hell was he thinking? "Why on earth do you think that's a good idea?"

"Batman needs a Robin." Tim said in a matter of fact tone.

Dick raised an eyebrow at him. "And you think this because...?"

"You've only been back here for a few months, I've been watching Batman since whoever was the second Robin died overseas. He's gotten reckless, damn near suicidal. I don't think he cares what happens to him anymore. A few weeks before you got here, he actually willingly took a shot during a hostage rescue. One of the hostages posted it online as 'Batman being awesome.'" Tim grumbled, "Idiot."

Dick folded his arms in thought, considering what Clark had told him earlier as well. Bruce wasn't holding up well, and, frankly the only thing that seemed to have perked him up the last few weeks is training and patrolling with Dick again. Tim was a kid, but so was he when he started. Hell, he already had an edge on the detective work...scarily so. Might actually be better than him already, and given a few years and practice, might rival Bruce himself someday. Then an idea crossed Dick that gave him a grin.

"Alright." He said simply.

Both Starfire and Tim blinked looking at Dick and saying the same thing at the same time in slightly different tones of confusion. "Alright?"

"Yup. We'll take you to Bruce, see what he thinks, but first things first." Dick looked over across the buildings near them. The apartment buildings near them were spaced extremely close, this being Gotham after all, some having no space between them, and the ones that did had, at most, a six to eight foot gap. They were in a rough square shape, and loaded with minor obstacles. A perfect mini-testing ground. "I'd like to see how fast you can run around these for building and back to this spot."

Tim blinked at him. "Right now?"

"No, tomorrow, at noon, where everyone can see. Damn right, now." Dick said cheerfully.

Tim gulped. "I...I uhm, only...just started taking parkour a few months ago so-"

"I said run, not give an excuse for why you're gonna suck before you get started." Dick said sternly, in his best Bruce impersonation he could give. Might as well prepare the kid now.

Tim looked at Dick with a skewed expression at first, before sighing and then putting on a face of grim determination. He settled down in a running stance before taking off, starting to make his way around the buildings.

Star floated down next to Nightwing with a worried expression on her face. "Are...are you sure this is the best method to test him out?"

"I'm sure. Just keep an eye and be ready to dive after him if he misses one of the gaps." Dick said calmly, watching Tim awkwardly climb over an air conditioning unit with a smirk. 'I remember when those gave me some trouble.'

Star watched as well, hovering up a bit to get a better look from higher up. She winced as Tim botched his landing after clearing the gap, stumbling and rolling into the loose rock on the roof. "He does not appear to be an acrobat." Star said simply, to which Dick nodded. To his credit, Tim simply got up and kept going, running over any other obstacles in the quickest route as best he could. It was the second gap that gave him a tad bit of trouble. He had jumped to early, and ended up gripping the ledge frantically. Starfire initially began to move towards him but Dick held up his hand at her, watching intently. Star stopped, but gave a weary look at her boyfriend. They were quite a ways up, but she could only out fly gravity so much. Then she watched as, after a minute of straining, Tim pulled himself up, and rolled onto the roof that he had started on, panting wearily and resting on his back.

Dick walked over to him and looked down as he loomed. Tim looked up, still panting and gave a smile. "So?" He asked.

"I said make it all the way around to the starting point." Dick said grimly, causing Tim's smile to falter. "And you took almost ten minutes." That erased his smile completely. "But..." Dick smiled. "Not bad. Could use a lot of work, but it's a start." Tim smiled again, still worn out.

"So now what?" Tim asked in a slightly exhausted tone.

"Now you have to argue your case to Batman, and pray to whatever God you believe in that he listens." Dick raised his eyebrows at Tim.

**Jump City:**

Jinx and Donna settled in Raven's room after dinner and let her fill in some of the gaps in the story of how everything had reached this point; going over the trip to the wine country and the aftermath.

Donna and Jinx simply stared when Raven described the evening's...events and the moment where everything pivoted and changed.

"You mean he just stopped...because you asked him to?" Donna asked, almost confused at the concept. Raven nodded softly, embarrassed as hell that she was even going over this with the two of them, but they had put up with her lying for this long, she might as well tell the truth now. Donna took a sip of water before stating outright what was on her mind; "I don't think there are Green Lanterns that have that much willpower."

Raven shrugged uncomfortably. Jinx picked up on her awkwardness about the entire story, and did her best to delicately pluck at it. "What's wrong?"

"What do mean?" Raven asked in an unsteady manner.

"I mean, he stopped when you asked him to, that...doesn't seem too bad, so why are you...unsettled?" Jinx raised an eyebrow at the question.

Raven grabbed the edges of her cloak and wrapped them around herself slightly, hands wringing at the cloth lightly, biting her lip in thought, before sighing and muttering something they couldn't hear.

"What?" Donna leaned forward a little.

"...I...I...didn't...want...him to stop." Raven finally said out loud in a barely audible tone.

Jinx and Donna blinked. "What?" they said at the same time.

"I...didn't want him to stop...at least not completely." Raven wrapped the cloak around herself tightly, wishing her hood was up to hide her red face. "I...just wanted him to slow down, that's all. I mean...we had gone through all of that to get set up. We even added all sorts of seals on the place, I wore a power reducing necklace, everything. I...I wanted to go forward, but he...just was going...too fast."

Jinx remembered what the Grey Raven had said in the corner of the safe room; "Couldn't do it, too scared, too close.". The extra context was slightly enlightening of that statement. Jinx sighed softly "You got overwhelmed."

Raven nodded. "But I didn't want him to back off completely. And then I felt terrible afterward...he didn't talk to me, he avoided me, he couldn't look at me...because he blamed himself. And it was my fault...I put us there, I got us into that situation and then...wussed out." Tears welled up in the corners of Raven's eyes. "And when we finally did starting spending time together, it was on me to figure out how. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know if he could really be around me anymore after all of that but...I could not just go without him there. So we hid, because that's all I fucking do with things I don't know how to figure out. Hide, misdirect and pretend there's no fucking problems." She was full on crying now. "_That's_ why I've been lashing out. _That's_ why everything's gone to shit. I can't fucking own up to the fact that I love the green jackass." There was a small fluctuation in the lights, which caused Raven to blink, mess and all, unwinding herself from her cloak enough to look at a small amulet around her neck. "Great, now I'm overwhelming this. Sorry, mom." She said flatly, before curling back up into her cloak.

Donna and Jinx looked at each other, each trying to figure out what to say. Donna nodded at Jinx, deciding to defer to her experience, before Jinx shook her head, saying softly to Donna "Why don't you tell her about you and Roy?"

Raven looked up, tears still going down her face. "What about you and Roy?" she asked though a small sob.

Donna sighed, grumbling internally at Jinx. "A few years ago, actually before the Titans were first formed, the Justice League members brought up their sidekicks with them. Different reasons of course; Bruce to point out to Dick who everyone was, Donna to get me more acquainted with the superhero community as I had just got here from Themescyra, Barry just to be nice and show Wally the tower, and I honestly think Arthur and Ollie brought Garth and Roy to show off." She rolled her eyes at the last part before continuing. "Anyways, Roy and I started talking then, and kinda been friends off and on ever since. About three years ago, I met up with Roy to check out the Titans East tower and...he started hitting on me. I didn't really know what to do in that situation and do what I know to do..."

Raven winced. "How bad?"

"He was out for about a week." Donna sighed. "Since then...I dunno, I've learned a bit more, it's still just...I feel bad, I didn't want to hurt him or anything I just...didn't know what to do."

Raven nodded softly, sniffing. "So what do you do now?"

"Well, I learned from it. Asked Diana about it. Which was probably the most awkward conversation a sister has to have. And then just...kept going, making sure to not well...react badly in all situations. Just the unwanted attention ones." Donna said with a grin.

"So I noticed." Raven raised an eyebrow, remembering the Adonis fight, if you could call it that, clearly. She sighed to herself, looking over at the large mirror she had over her dresser. "I'm a mess."

"Well, yeah, you've been kinda sobbing for twenty minutes or so now." Jinx said frankly.

"Not just that, in general..." She sighed again, looking back down. "What am I gonna do?"

Donna tilted her head. "Learn from it. Talk to Gar when he wakes up, settle things. You two obviously love each other."

"You make me and Wally feel almost self conscious." Jinx raised her eyebrows, then grinned "Almost."

They all jumped at loud thumps coming from the door. Cyborg talked through it without opening. "Sorry to interrupt, Ladies but I'm about to get Gar up, thought Raven should know."

They all stared, then looked slightly confused.

Jinx was the one who first said what was on their minds. "What does he mean by "wake him up"?"

"I guess I better go find out." Raven said simply, standing up quickly to wash her face in her small attached bathroom's sink before walking as fast as she could out of the room.

Donna looked at Jinx. "Should we...follow her?"

"Naw, let them have this. I think Cy being there is going to be bad enough." Jinx replied calmly.

"True." Donna nodded.

Down in the infirmary, Raven walked in to find Cyborg standing next to the mess of machines, a small needle laid out on a tray.

"Cool, you're here, I can start now." Cy said with a grin.

"Start what? What the hell do you mean wake him up?" Raven folded her arms as she walked to the chair that was next to the bed to sit down.

"Well..his vitals had been stable for a few hours, hell since yesterday so I emailed one of the League doctors about it. Turns out the bastard's just sleeping, all the major injuries are gone. Said it'd be best to just kinda get him awake for the moment, make sure there isn't any major brain issues, then he can go back to resting. So I'm putting a tiny bit of caffeine in his IV." Cyborg lifted the needle, examining it before injecting it into the tubes connected to Gar.

"Is that what the doctor said to use?" Raven raised an eyebrow.

"Sure." Vic said calmly. Raven's glare told him she wasn't convinced, so he sighed. "Look, it was the best thing I could find on short notice."

A minute passed before Gar sorta jumped a little on the bed, eyes opening quickly then shutting out the light as he shook his head.

"What the hell, dude?" Gar said wearily, looking at Cy through squinted eyes.

"Welcome back to the world, green bean. We've been worried about you." Cy smiled.

"We?" Gar looked to the other side, seeing Raven looking at him with slightly wide eyes. "Oh...hey Rae-" He was cut off as she jumped onto the bed, hugging around his neck and kissing him. Gar was caught off guard, but wrapped his arms around her, kissing her back deeply.

Vic looked at the two and began backing out. "So I'm gonna count that as my neurological test that everything's doin' good and just...leave you two alone." Gar gave him a thumbs up, not breaking the kiss. Vic leaned out of the room, then back in quickly. "No strenuous activities!" He barked before closing the door.

They broke the kiss after a moment, Gar scooting over enough to let her lay next to him better. They simply laid there for a few minutes, Raven wrapped around him as best she could be.

He then broke the silence. "You could use a shower."

"You too." Raven said dryly.

* * *

**A/N: Annnnd that's chapter 9. Not really sure what to say about it. Kinda proud of this one over all. Only real regret for this and the last chapter is if I had a way of making Dream's dialog outlined in black in white text. What can you do? So you may have noticed that I've been avoiding le sexy times overall in the story. Mostly cause it doesn't serve much overall plot purpose, partially because I have nagging paranoia's about doing so and also a friend of mine said he'd laugh at me. That last one's a stickler. I'm honestly still wavering on full whether or not to go full lemon down the road, and if I do, whether or not to post it here (following the example of a certain fic writer I follow). Know what songs I'd use as chapter titles, figured that out a while ago. ...Have I mention I'm a nerd?**

**Review responses/Distractions from awkward notes!:**

**LurkingShadowWillow: Coma/sleeping. I...think I covered most of it? I'm actually trying to leave a few time gaps here and there so I can go back and throw in a scene or two down the road if I want. Open-ended time frames give me a good chunk of options. As for Cy's dad's secret...I might get to that this story. Might. ^^**

**QuxxnofThrones: Um, damn. I've had a lot of nice things said about this fic, I mean everything y'all have said has been awesome, but knowing I made someone stop reading a book? Damn. Wow. o.o That's a hell of a feeling, a good one just...odd.**

**ChaosIsBeauty23: ^^ thanks, glad I was able to sync it right. I actually had the song for this chapter on repeat when writing. Half to keep the tone right, half because it gets stuck in my damn head. It's weird, cause they're not that much older...well from my perspective. I have all their ages in the notes, I dunno if I've put it anywhere beyond mention Dick was 21 at the start...well crap. That just sank in that I forgot to do that. Fuck it. Anyways, as far as drawing, it's turned into this thing that like, I have my little table set up with laptop to one side, sketchbook to the other and I just jump back and forth, so it has actually not been to bad a detriment. To words for balancing life and writing in my case: Night. Shift.**

**charmedprincess101: ^^ thank you. I enjoy making the twists, just a fun thing to do...have no other way to put it.**

**Alright! let's see. Chapter title song by The xx, check out the song on Youtube, it's awesome.**

**Next chapter is: ...shit. Uhm. I don't have song. So uh...pay attention to this space for a bit, I'll put it here as soon as I figure that out.**

**8/8/13 Update: Okay, Next Chapter song is "Snow(Hey Oh)" By Red Hot Chili Peppers. Less Lyrically based more just...attitude/tone of the chapter I'm going for? It's been making sense so far, and y'all have stuck with me this long, so hopefully it'll make sense to you too when it's done. ^^ that is all.**

**Extra shout out to the now 60 followers of this story...like just hit that benchmark a bit ago. I mean. Damn. Thank you, you all are amazing. As always, thanks for reading, review if you'd be so kind, and keep up being awesome, all of ya'll. ^^ see you next chapter! Peace!**


	11. Chapter 10: Snow(( Hey Oh!))

**A/N: Holy. Balls. Wow, this took way too long to do. Sorry bout that. Full note at the bottom, for now; Story.**

**Also, don't own the characters and universe used within this story. Just borrowing them for a while.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Snow((Hey Oh))**

Gar and Raven laid there for what seemed like hours; staring at the ceiling, simply enjoying their moment alone and absorbing the peace of it.

Of course, Gar spoke up to break the silence again. "So, I gather that kiss earlier means ya missed me."

"No, that's how I greet everyone who wakes up from a mini-coma now." Raven replied in a sarcastic tone.

There was a pause. "So...any chance one of the girls is in a coma?"

Raven pinched the side of his arm. Hard.

"Ow-OW! Hey, it was a joke, a _joke_!" Gar winced as she pulled her hand away.

"A bad one." She grumbled as she settled back down next to him, draping an arm across his chest.

"Thought that was my thing? My modus operandi, if you will." Gar waved his hand that wasn't wrapped around her shoulders in the air loosely, wincing slightly at a small pain that told him there was an IV line in him.

"If I didn't know you better, I'd be impressed by your use of that term." Raven said in her usual monotone, curling into him a little.

"Almost miss the days when I could still surprise you with that stuff." Gar yawned, hugging her closer. "Almost."

"Hrm." was Raven's simple reply before she began to drift to sleep, lingering tired finally catching up to her. Gar continued to stare at the ceiling in vague thought before the last traces of caffeine left his system and he was out like a light.

When Gar woke up the next morning, he had to reprocess a lot of information through his groggy brain. His sleep had been heavy, and thankfully dreamless to his knowledge. He was pretty sure he'd had enough of the dream realm for a bit. The first thing he went over was the fact that his left side was immobilized by a soft warmth. Gar looked down, smiling to himself to see Raven curled up around him, still snoozing, arm draped around him. The other thing he became immediately aware of was the machines beeping softly on his right side, along with the IV drip and various other hook ups in his right arm, which he examined with a mild frown. He hated these things. The last, and probably most important thing he realized was Cyborg looming over the bed.

"Gah!" Gar jumped a little, shuffling Raven enough to cause her to open her eyes slowly to look up at Cyborg. Eyes widened a bit as it processed through her mind the position she was caught in, before she settled on an attitude of "Fuck it." and rested her head back on Gar's chest, keeping her standard bland expression.

"Good morning." She said flatly.

"Almost noon, but I'll let y'all get away with that." Vic grinned before beginning to go over the various medical equipment readings, simply looking at the machines as the data displayed itself on his internal HUD. "I said it about the other two, and I'll it about you two as well," He said while still looking at the equipment, "It's about time."

"Uhm. Great. Thanks..." Gar responded in an awkward tone as Raven seemed to stare at the wall, both their faces tinged a tad.

"Well, you seem mostly good to go." Vic said cheerfully, enjoying their discomfort.

"Fantastic." Gar stretched his right arm out. "Get this shit outta me."

"Oh stop bein' a baby." Vic grumbled at his green friend as he began undoing the various IV drips and sensors on the arm. "Few things to go over though."

"...'bout?" Gar asked after a pause.

"Though you're stabilized and your vitals check, you still got some lingering things that need to heal, so you're gonna have to take a week or so off. And you, miss-"I'm-gonna-heal-my-mortally-wounded-special-t eammate"," Vic pointed at Raven. "Have to as well. If you can barely teleport in the building, there's no way you could hold your own on the field."

Both Gar and Raven grumbled.

"'Sides figure y'all could use the time off. Sort some things out." Vic said as he focused on carefully taking the tube out of Gar's arm.

The grumbling stopped and was replaced by an uncomfortable silence.

"Mmhmm, that's what I thought." Vic said calmly as he finished wrapping up Gar's arm, and he looked at the two of them. "Look, I don't really know everything that's been going on or what caused it, but I know that you two can sort it out. You're smart people. Well, Raven, you're a smart person and Gar can take orders from time to time."

"Dude!"

"Sorry string bean, too easy." Vic chuckled. "Alright, you're good to go. Get outta my infirmary. I gotta make lunch then pick up a patrol." Vic said in a stern manner, thumbing at the door. "Raven, ya might need to help him to his room."

Gar huffed as he and Raven sat up, her sliding off the bed silently. "Pfft, please Cy, I got a good amount of rest I should be perfectly okay to-Woah." He wobbled as he stood up, catching himself on the bed.

"You were saying?" Raven monotoned, helping Gar stand up straight.

"I probably could use some help getting to my room." Gar said in a smooth manner.  
"Really?" Vic asked in a surprised tone. Gar went the mature route and flicked him the bird. Vic just grinned. "Alright, well rest up, don't worry about the team stuff, we got it covered. Think of it as a vacation for doin' a good job running the team."

"Not much to run towards, really. Been kinda dead." Gar muttered as they hobbled to the hall.

"Well, what you did cover, you did awesome, man. So y'all relax, have fun, just clean up afterwards." Vic grinned.

Both of them took the mature route to reply this time as they went through the door and into the hall. They fell into a minor lock step rhythm while walking, keeping silent as they moved down the hall.

"So...are we really gonna go all the way to my room?" Gar asked in low tones.

"Mine's closer." Raven responded in a calm manner.

Silence fell for a minute again.

"Y'know, anyone sees this, they'll probably-" Gar began, with a chuckle.

"I really don't give a shit at the moment." Raven said bluntly. Gar blinked, then gave a small grin.

"Fair enough."

They managed to work their way to Raven's room, stopping as Gar put in the passcode and the door slid open. They got to the bed and Gar managed a controlled plop onto the mattress, relaxing as he sunk in slightly.

"Always did like your bed more." Gar grinned.

"Only because it can actually fit both of us." Raven raised an eyebrow at him.

"That and it smells like you, makes it relaxing." Gar said, mostly without thought.

Raven's cheeks tinged slightly, face keeping her normal stone features. "Hrm, well, I'm gonna grab us some lunch, you just relax here, okay?"

"I was thinking about crawling out there with you, but y'know what? I'm good. 'Sides, it's not everyday you actually are willing to bring me food like that, might as well take advantage of it." Gar grinned.

"It's not everyday you wake up from a freakin' coma, idiot." Raven's eyebrows furrowed.

"Meh." Gar shrugged. "Details."

"You're seriously making me reconsider my future acts of kindness for you." Raven said as she began to leave the room.  
"But you're not really right?" Gar asked as the door opened as Raven left. "...Right?" He called after her before the door closed.

**Gotham:**

Tim felt the rush of night air pass over his blindfolded face as Starfire held him under the arms, flying them towards...well he didn't know but he was going somewhere with Robin-Nightwing now he guessed, and Starfire of the Titans, so he figured they weren't going to kill him.

"Soooo...why is your girlfriend flying me? I mean I get the blindfold but not the flying thing." Tim yelled down at where he presumed Dick was, guessing by listening for the motorcycle he was on.

"Disorientation. Harder for you to figure out where we are in case this doesn't work out and we need you to not find the Cave again." Dick yelled back up at him nonchalantly. "That and it's fun!"

"Yes, being carried when blindfolded is wonderful." Tim grumbled.

Star looked down at Tim, smiling. "Do not worry, Young-Tim, I have gotten most excellent at carrying friends and teammates over the years. You are in safe care."

"Practice makes perfect I guess." Tim replied flatly.

"Hey, Star!" Dick called up at her. "Look out for that tree!" There was no tree.

Tim figured there wasn't a tree. Star would give a confused response, and Dick's attempt at hazing would-

"Hang on!" Starfire beamed as she threw Tim up into the air, causing him to loose any sense of up, down and reality for a brief second before feeling himself caught by Star again. His stomach lurched, as that shady convenience store tuna sandwich reminded him it was there and _pretty_ shady.

"Now that that's done, is there somewhere I can throw up?" Tim asked, face green. Star frowned, looking down at Dick, who was chuckling hysterically. She sighed as she flew over a patch of forest that was unoccupied.

"Boys." She muttered to herself as Tim emptied his stomach underneath her.

**The Batcave:**

Dick let Tim do all the talking; explaining how he figured tracked him down, how he pieced the puzzle together and figured out who Robin and then Batman were. Bruce simply listened, staring intently at Tim, Alfred in the background as well. He kept his cowl up, so that the built in lens blocked his eyes, adding an extra level of intimidation to the process. After about fifteen minutes of Tim's rambling explanation, Bruce held up his hand for silence and then asked his first question.

"So, a point you've come to a few times is that I need a Robin. Why do you think that?" How he could sound calm and polite while maintaining a threatening tone, Dick had yet to figure out.

"Well...I...uhm, you see, sir,-" Tim stammered, shuffling in his spot.

"Out with it." Bruce's tone shifted into a demanding one.

"You're reckless without a partner." Tim blurted. "I looked at your early career too, and you took far more unnecessary risks before Dick became Robin. When you have a partner, everything's more method based, you don't seem to willingly throw yourself into potentially fatal situations, you hang back and plot. And that's when you do your best work. Batman with a Robin is far more calculating, thoughtful and in control. Maybe it's because you have someone to talk plans with in the field, maybe it's because you feel more responsible but you seem to just function better with a Robin."

Dick saw Bruce's jaw clench slightly as he ingested the words, and also saw a small smile form on Alfred's face as he listened as well. Tim had made his case, and judging by Bruce's grim expression, he had made the best one possible. Bruce stood up from his chair almost in a blur.

"We'll start training this evening, you'll be on a trial run for three months, then we'll see from there." Bruce growled as he brisked past them and up the stairs, cape snaking behind him and barely missing getting caught in the door to the cave as it slammed.

"Well done, Master Timothy. You caused him to storm off, this is an excellent first step." Alfred kept his smile, though it shifted to a wry one as he raised an eyebrow.

Starfire grabbed Tim in a hug, lifting him up. "Congratulations!"

"That'sgreatcan'tbreathe" Tim coughed out, swearing he felt a rib crack. Star quickly put him down, still beaming. Dick clasped a hand to his shoulder.

"Great job, kid. Now the fun part begins." Dick smiled.

"Which is...?" Tim asked hesitantly.

Alfred cleared his throat, "Well, first you will rest during the day, and then Master Bruce shall begin instructing you in both self defense and basic parkour, and I assume Master Richard shall be assisting?" He raised an eyebrow at Dick, who nodded in response.

"I'll help out when I can but when he starts grilling you and putting you through the ringer, you're on your own, Tim." Dick sighed. "I've learned if Bruce's training wrath is aimed at someone else, it's best to step out of the way."

Tim stared at Dick for a moment before it struck him. "Oh. Damn."

"And you seemed to kinda piss him off by proving a valid point he didn't think of, sooooo yeah. Probably an extra hour of practice there. Maybe two." Dick folded his arms, looking up in thought. Tim raised an eyebrow before looking around at the various training objects in the cave, eyes settling on a fighting mat.

"...Are those blood stains?"

"Oh yeah." Dick said with a grin.

Tim's face fell, before Kori put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Do not worry, Young-Tim, Butler-Alfred is excellent at mending both bone and flesh." Her statement was meant to be a calming one, but if the draining color from Tim's face was any indicator, it had the opposite effect.

**Jump City:**

The previous days had passed without any real incident, both for the team as a whole and Raven and Gar. Admittedly, no one had really seen much of either beyond Raven's brief, silent food runs. The two had mostly been lounging about in Raven's room, Gar still weary enough to not really get up too much and Raven stubbornly keeping an eye on him. While they had settled into a comfortable norm, cuddling, sleeping together, things they usually did when no one else was there, a slight awkwardness had also settled onto everything like a fine layer of dust. The proverbial elephant in the room lingered, and neither really wanted to face it; Gar because he was simply enjoying things being back to "normal", and Raven because she really didn't know how to approach the subject and didn't want to ruin the fact that she was just thankful he was alive.

After roughly the third day, though, Gar cracked. Maybe it was the fact he couldn't move around much, and thus limited to a room and his brain had way too much time to wander. Maybe it was the slight feeling of discomfort in the air. Maybe it was the shift in Raven's attitude on their relationship from "hide it forever until we or they die" to "Meh, I guess it's okay that they know, whatever". Probably a combination of all of them, but as usual, he was the first to approach it, in as tactful a manner he knew how.

"Why does everything feel weird?" Gar asked after about 45 minutes of silence between them, interrupting Raven's paragraph of the book she was reading, and completely derailing her brain for a second.

"...How do you mean?" She asked in a cautious manner.

"It's...it's just weird, y'know?" Gar raised an eyebrow as his brain tried to string his thoughts together coherently. "I mean, I like that we've spent the past few days together...I like that you've relaxed on the...hiding thing, but everything still doesn't feel right."

Raven stilled, before carefully placing a bookmark and closing the book, setting it to the side. She sifted through the words in her mind, trying to find the right thing to sum it up. "We did explode at each other hours before you fell; I would assume it's lingering resentment from that."

"I don't resent you for the fight." Gar blinked. "Why would I? It was my fault."

"No it wasn't, I wasn't honest, and I pushed back a bit too hard." Raven insisted.

"Yeah, but I pulled _the_ argumentative low blow, that's my fault."

She stared at him. "Garfield, I threw you into the window hard enough to crack it."

"I walked it off." Gar said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "'Sides, I pushed you hard enough to kinda...split?" He scratched the back of his head. "I really don't know what to call it."

"The best phrase is probably a break down, but that's my fault too." Raven said impatiently. "I wasn't handling everything right from the beginning, so that's entirely my doing."

"You weren't...?" Gar raised an eyebrow. "You didn't freak out over a misunderstanding."

"You didn't cause the misunderstanding." Raven replied flatly.

"It takes two to cause a misunderstanding, Raven." Gar stressed.

"Goddamnit, shut up and let me take the blame for this." Raven near growled.

"No." Gar said simply. A long pause fell between the two before Gar's face slowly cracked into a smile before he succumbed to a giggling fit.

"What?" Raven raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend's reaction.

"It's just...we're fighting...over whose fault...a fight is." Gar giggled out.

Raven sighed, but a small smile crept on her lips. He sometimes was good at pointing out the absurdity in a situation. "So we are. Well, what do you suppose we do, then?"

Gar breathed in and out for a second, calming himself before looking thoughtful, smile not leaving his face. "Drop it and forgive each other for being stupid?"

"That simple?" Raven asked flatly.

"Seems to be the best bet." Gar shrugged. Raven sighed, laying down on the bed next to him, looking up at the ceiling in thought.

"It's still my fault, though." Raven said softly. Gar opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off by raising her hand. "I know, it takes two. But I should have been more upfront with you about...well my nervousness. And such."

"You didn't seem nervous at the time." Gar said flatly.

"I know. I wasn't. Up until the moment...well...I...it was too much." Raven sighed. "I was ready physically, we were ready with everything powers wise, I just...wasn't ready to the weight of the emotions. Both of ours."

Gar stared at the ceiling as well,deciding to let her continue.

"It just...hit me all at once and kept doing so...and...it's just one of those things I didn't think about." Raven sighed again, sounding exhausted simply going over it all in her mind. "You would think an empath would try and prepare for that, but-"

"We can't prepare for everything, Rae." Gar cut her off quietly. Raven stopped, and mulled it over.

"No, I guess not." She said after a few minutes of thought. "I didn't mean to drive you off, though."

"You didn't, I drove me off." Gar sighed this time. "I...thought I had gone too far. And...I didn't want to hurt you, I mean I promised I wouldn't and I thought I did and then I did again in the fight and I just made things worse and-" Raven cut him off this time, he was beginning to ramble.

"Garfield. Mark. Logan." She said sternly, sitting up and placing a hand on his chest and looking him dead in the eye, emeralds locking on to amethysts. "If you ever, _ever_, did anything I did not want you to do, do you really think you would still be alive to regret it?"

Gar blinked. "No, probably not."

"Besides." Raven smiled softly again, face tinged red. "I did enjoy it, just..couldn't go fully. You didn't hurt me, Gar. Not at all."

Gar let the words sink into, sighing again. "I'm sorry."

"We make mistakes, we're human." Raven said flatly, before thinking about the words, before looking off to the side. "Well...mostly."

"It's our mistakes that make us human." Gar repeated Barry's words thoughtfully.

"Where'd you hear that?" Raven looked at him in a cold, analytical way.

"Made it up." Gar lied.

"Bullshit." Raven called his bluff.

"Damnit." Gar looked off to the side in defeat.

Raven grinned, quirking an eyebrow, "Empath, remember?"

"How can I forget?" Gar grinned in return, "Heard it from a friend recently, how's that?"

"That's acceptable." Raven smirked. She settled back down next to him, Gar wrapping an arm around her instinctively.

"So...we good?" Gar asked after a few minutes of silence.

"I think we're good." Raven rolled her eyes at the obvious question.

"Kay." With that, Gar rolled near fully on top of her, kissing a very surprised Raven before sitting back up with a grin. "Been wanting to do that for a while."

"I can tell." Raven raised an eyebrow. Gar took the hint, rolled off and stared at the wall on the other side of the room with his back to her, face as red as it gets for him.

"Sorry." He muttered out.

"It's all right." Raven said softly. After a brief pause, she added "Least I know you still like me."

"Didn't think that was in question." Gar turned slightly back over raising an eyebrow and grinning.

"...You didn't have to get off, y'know." Raven said as softly as before. Gar shuffled so his back was to her again, a long pause lingering.

"I know. I'm just...I don't wanna push anything on that front again. At least not yet." Gar said in a half mutter, but still loud and coherent enough for Raven to hear.

Raven looked at the back of his head thoughtfully, sensing the lingering guilt in him and sighed, before smiling softly. "I'm okay with that."

While he didn't turn over, Gar smiled softly. "Thanks."

**Gotham:**

"C'mon, Tim, that was what? A five foot jump? You can make that!" Dick yelled across the cave towards the free running course, which was arranged over one of the cliff sides of the cave to replicate the height of the average building Gotham.

"The length doesn't concern me as much as the height!" Tim yelled back as he dangled on the safety harness. "I'm like, what, a hundred feet up?"

"Eighty seven." Bruce interrupted. "Start over, this time, no screw ups. And don't rely on the harness. You're not going to have one on patrol." He took another sip of coffee.

"Do I actually get to go on patrol?!" Tim asked excitedly.

"Did I say you were?"

"...No." Tim slumped in the harness.

"Then no, you're not. Now, Start. The. Course. Again." Bruce said with increasing darkness. Tim quickly yanked on the safety line to get himself back to the beginning of the free running course.

"How do you think he's doing?" Dick looked at Bruce, asking the question quietly.

"Improving quickly, just needs to stop hesitating." Bruce replied before finishing down his cup of coffee, setting it down on a tray and grabbing the next one in the line of five mugs, Alfred casually filling the empty one he set down before going back to the diagnostics he was running on one of the random gadgets from the utility belt.

Dick stretched slightly before looking at his watch; three thirty-ish. They were up way too early after stopping the Penguin's heist last night. Kori was still sleeping in, she deserved it after catching the little fat man himself, but Bruce wanted Dick up and helping him watch over Tim's training. Dick yawned, stealing one of the full mugs of coffee and wandered over to the computer to look up the latest reports that had trickled in over the day. Or was planning on it before seeing a little window the Titans symbol on it. Sipping the coffee, he tapped the window lightly on the screen and it opened up, showing a somewhat exhausted looking Cyborg.

'Had to have been something rough to make him actually look tired.' He mused internally. "What's up, Vic? How's Gar and Raven doing?"

"Pretty well from when we see 'em. Well, Raven at least, Gar's been camping out in her room for the past few days, think he's still a little worn out from the fall."

"Makes sense." Dick took another sip off coffee. "So what's going on? You look like crap."

"Didn't have time to tidy up for the call." Vic raised an eyebrow. "Had a big mess pop up. Oddly enough, involving the guys who caused Gar's tumble." Dick simply took another sip, eyes not leaving the screen, so Vic continued. "When they were being transported to the closest meta-level prison, the transport got attacked. At the same time, the police station that had all the tech they were hauling got raided. All the tech's gone, so is the gang and you're just gonna love who's fingers are on this one."

"Don't I always?" Dick's eye twitched as extra windows popped up with security footage from the police station, showing various attackers wearing orange and black garb. "Thought Slade was going to leave us alone?"

"Gang must've been working for him. Besides, it's been what? Two, three years? He must have figured we've had enough breathing time." Vic sighed.

"Doesn't make sense though. Why would he have a random gang sent out if he's got his robot goons back?" Dick thought aloud.

"Dunno. They didn't kill anyone, either. Just wrecked shop, grabbed the gang, grabbed the tech, then vanished. Just like old times."

"Guessing the trail went dead?" Dick asked the obvious question.

"It's Slade, man. Even if it's just his robo-squad. Fucker covered every track he could."

"Except the security footage. He wanted us to know that he's active again." Dick's eyes narrowed at the pictures of the station.

"That's what I thought too. Still feels off, though. I mean, it does for you too, right?"

"Yeah. Starfire and I will be out there as soon as we can, give as much of a hand with the investigation before we head out to Bludhaven. If it's Slade, I-"

"-Want to be here, I gotcha, man." Vic said with a grin. "Well, see ya when you get here, I'll let ya know if we figure anything else out."

"Thanks, Vic." Dick tapped the computer to cut the connection. He turned and jumped a little to find Bruce near right behind him. 'Hate it when he does that.'

"I'll get a Bat-jet set up for you two, it'll be faster than trying to get a cover flight again." Bruce said simply.

"Yeah, Ollie's probably busy anyways." Dick grinned.

"Hrm." Bruce half growled, a small hint of a grin hit the corner of his mouth before he turned back to the course, face dropping into a scowl. "What did I just tell you about relying on that damn harness? Pick up your legs, Tim! Start it over!"

"But I'm almost done..." Tim said sadly, having just neared the end of the course.

"And now you're doing it over again." Bruce growled. Tim muttered as he began the trudge back to the beginning of the course. "And you keep griping like that, you'll have to do it twice."  
Tim immediately shut his mouth but kept a strong disgruntled expression.

"How hard are you planning on pushing him, Bruce?" Dick asked lowly.

"He said he wants to be Robin. I'm going to make sure that he means it." Bruce took another sip of his coffee. There were times when Bruce genuinely scared Dick.

This was one of them.

**Jump City:**

Vic got off the line and walked to slump in the couch, rubbing is human eye in weariness. The break out and raid had kept them running around in circles for the better part of eight hours and the team barely had anything to show for it. Some security footage, maybe an idea of where the robo-goons took the gang, but this was Slade they were dealing with. If he had wanted them to know nothing, they would've had no clue what happened. He's that damn calculating. As Vic hit the seat, he heard a familiar voice talk at him from the center area of the couch.

"You look like shit." Gar said plainly, before taking a mouthful of popcorn.

Vic almost jumped when he heard him talk, looking up at Gar to see him half laying on the couch, his back on a reading Raven and a bowl of popcorn in his lap. "...How long have you two been there?"

"Bout a minute after you started waiting for the link protocols to go through." Gar spoke through the popcorn.

"Ah." Vic frowned slightly. He was hoping to keep it on the down low from BB about the gang getting out. "Well, don't worry much on it, we'll figure out where they are, man."

"I know, I know. I'll keep resting up." Gar rolled his eyes as he shoved a hand full of popcorn in front of Raven's face. Raven's eyes looked at him, quirked an eyebrow before shaking her head softly. He shrugged, putting the handful in his mouth quickly.

Vic grinned at the little moment. 'They seem to be doing well.' He leaned back into his spot on the couch to stare mindlessly at the TV, Gar had it on some old monster movie. Figures.

"So, do you even think Slade's even in state?" Gar asked through a mouthful of popcorn.

"Honestly? Don't think so. Wally ran up and down as much of the tracks of the robots he found and they seemed to move east, or as much as were left. Probably in Nevada, lotsa desert to hide in." Vic sighed, laying back into the couch further, propping his feet off the side.

"Well, it'll be good to see Dick anyways." Gar replied thoughtfully staring into the screen, before the normal glazed TV watching expression overtook him.

**Gotham:**

Kori handed out the usual bone crushing hugs, and Dick gave Alfred a less damaging, but still affectionate hug. As he went to pat Tim on the shoulder, Tim nudged him a bit closer.

"Don't leave-I think Bruce is actually trying to kill me." Tim said, slightly worried expression.

"Batman doesn't kill, and if it ever gets too bad, just ask him 'How are things with Selina' and that'll shut him up for a while."

"Why?" Tim raised an eyebrow.

"Figure it out." Dick grinned, giving him hard tap on the shoulder before he joined Kori at the Bat-jet.

"Land at the coordinates given, it's an unused air field that I've had stashed away just in case I needed to be on the West Coast." Bruce stated calmly.

"That just happens to be on the outskirts of Jump City." Dick replied, less a question more a confirmation.

"Exactly."

"Mrmhrm." Dick folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.

A moment of silence elapsed between the two before Bruce held out his hand for a handshake, which Dick took before bringing him in for a quick hug which a slightly startled Bruce returned.

"Don't be too hard on the kid." Dick said as they parted.

"I'll do my best." Bruce growled.

"That's what I'm worried about." Dick grinned before hopping into the jet. He gave a last wave before starting it up, and it rose up quickly, and darted off towards the western horizon above the cave.

The three stared up to watch it leave, before Alfred returned to his usual maintenance duties and Bruce and Tim turned towards each other, somewhat awkwardly.

"...Ready for fight training?" Bruce asked calmly.

"No, but it's the next step." Tim sighed, telling himself inwardly 'Save the question for later, man.'

**Jump City:**

Kori and Dick arrived with a bit of fanfare, Kori of course rushing to give everyone their needed and deserved hug.

"Friend-Donna! You are looking well!"

"You too, Kori!" They hugged, no issues, really.

"Friend-Cyborg! You are also looking well and somewhat rested!"

"Thanks I-" A slight creak of metal was heard "-Think?" He squeaked slightly.

"Friend-Jinx! I dare ask you kept Friend-Wallace out of trouble?"

"Eh, for the most-" Air raced out of Jinx's lungs"-part." As she was dropped she rubbed her ribs slightly "Never gonna get used to that."

"Friend-Wallace, has your stay been enjoyable?"

"Minus a hiccough or two-" Wally coughed "-Been fun."

"Friend-Rose! Always a pleasure to see you!"

Rose tried to hold up her arms to block the incoming hug, but failed as Starfire simply hugged them too. She spoke after she was released, "Like wise, Star." Rose rubbed her arms. "Like wise."

"Friend-Garfield!" Kori stopped before she went into full hug mode, settling on as soft a hug she could muster. "How is my Silkie and how are you healing?"

"Nice of you to ask about the bug first." Gar grinned, "Silkie's fine and I'm healing up good. Another day or so and the Doc says I can run and play with the other kids." Star laughed but Gar could tell she didn't get the reference.

Raven, unfortunately, was not spared a full hug. "Friend-Raven! Have you kept up the time of girls?!"

"Every-" Raven winced, both from the usual bone crushing and mind numbing emotional forces, "Week or so."

"We must catch up!" Kori said with above normal enthusiastic cheer.

Raven raised an eyebrow. 'Some people had spare time on their flight over.' passed through her mind dryly. "Sure, just, give me a week. Too much going on. And what have you." She waved her hand in the air lazily. Kori nodded enthusiastically.

After the hugs, everything settled back into the normal routine; Donna went over her notes with Dick, hoping the two of them could piece together any more hints of Slade's involvement, Kori chatted at Jinx and Raven while scratching Silkie's head lovingly. They both politely listened as their respective boyfriends played against Cyborg in a racing game.

All in all, just a normal evening for the Titans...

**Elsewhere...**

The goons were not entirely sure where they were. After the bots had busted them out of the holding van, they had been blindfolded and they think drugged until they woke up in this...whatever it was. It was dark, slightly damp and had pipes everywhere, it looked slightly industrial but the building's exact purpose seemed to elude the lot of them. After a lot of silent communication and shoving, they were huddled into a large central area with a platform raised above it, their patron waiting in his usual, brooding calm.

"You weren't supposed to get caught, boys." Slade looked down at them, his one eye looking among the group of still masked hoodlums.

"Yeah, well, you didn't tell us the Titans hand changed up." One of them spoke up.

"And you were stupid enough not to pay attention to a trivial detail." Slade countered coldly. "I give you masks to hide in plain sight, I give a few simple instructions for shuffling tech, a simple job. And you blow it. Mostly."

"Speaking of these masks..." Another began, hesitating when Slade's eye narrowed at him. "When can we get these things off? They...they feel funny."

There was a low murmur of agreement among them that was silence when Slade cleared his throat. "If that is what you want, we'll take care of that here, follow number 317, he'll get you set up in the right room."

A bot began to walk briskly towards one of the many corridors, and the gang slowly began to follow.

"Except you." Slade pointed at the one who spoke up earlier. "I wish to speak with you."

The goon stopped, and walked toward the center of the room again as Slade stepped down, arms still behind his back as he didn't look directly at the goon.

"You attacked my daughter." Slade stated simply.

"She was workin' with the Titans, I had to-"

"You were given instructions to not harm her _at all_." Slade said in a low tone.

"She attacked me, what was I supposed to do, die-" His question was cut off as a fist connected to his ribcage. In a swift movement, Slade stepped closer, jamming his boot on the goons upper ankle and pushing a shoulder underneath his, stretching up quickly, creating a loud, crunching pop as the shoulder and hip dislocated and the ankle was crushed. He removed himself to allow the goon to fall to the ground painfully.

"Yes. You were supposed to let yourself die." Slade loomed over him for a second, before stomping on the masked goons face.

"No one." Stomp.

"Attacks." Stomp.

"My." Stomp.

"Daughter!" A sickening crunch echoed through the barren room as the goon was decapitated by the last stomp. Slade looked down dispassionately, regaining control of his breath, before looking at an idle bot. "Throw this in with the others in the incinerator room, and then recover the masks so we may return them to our benefactors. " The bot nodded, grabbing both the body and the head and dragging it towards the corridor that the others had gone down. Slade turned to walk away. "And clean this up afterwards, don't want the place becoming a mess."

He calmly walked into the room behind the raised platform. It was filled with a large computer console, and various weaponry and an incredibly spartan, incredibly mobile bunking area. He idly tapped a few keys on the computer and waited for the other screen to pop up, the image, of course, blocked.

"Are they taken care of?"

"They won't give anything away, to the Titans or Police."

"And the tech?"

"Recovered, of course."

"Then what is your evaluation?"

Slade sighed. "Despite his tumble, the little snot seems to be a decent leader. Give him enough time, he might be as good as Robin. Better as a leader in a sense that he lacks...passion for individual pursuit."

"You mean 'obsession which can be turned against them'. They can not all be Robin, Deathstroke."

"No, I suppose not." Slade said in a wry fashion. "The goons were useless, next batch you send-"

"Will not be to you. At least in your current location. If you would oblige us, we would prefer to use your services more directly near Bludhaven. The recruiting has been sloppy around the board. And we are keenly aware of your distaste for slip ups."

Slade looked at the blank screen, eye narrowing. "That will mean an increase in payment."

"Something we are more than willing to concede."

He tilted his head. "Why not Bludhaven directly?"

"At the moment, it is nothing for you to concern yourself with."

Slade shrugged. "So be it. Have them prepare an area for me to arrive in, I'll get to work in a few days."

"We are pleased to continue our business partnership, Mr. Wilson. We expect to see excellent results from you." The video line cut off.

Slade continued to look at the screen in thought. "Hrmmm." he voiced to no one, ignoring the dull screams echoing from the incinerator room down the hall.

* * *

**A/N: And on that ominous note, that's chapter 10. So, first off, very very sorry it took so long to get this out. Moving is a bitch. So are rewrites caused by moving. Quite a bit has happened since I last posted; BB/Rae seems to be...well pseudo-cannon, whatever TTGO! counts as. But hey, a win is a win. Have had a whole slew of new ideas for the next stories, which has made it harder to finish this story because, for me, I know what's gonna happen next, it's done. For me. But not y'all. And I think, as I said a while ago, I got at least 3 or 4 more stories in me, big ones at least, for Teen Titans fics. Posted a little oneshot based in this timeline. Because, well you can read why there, it's *shameless plug* Struck By You *shameless plug*. let's see, I think...I think it's probably just one more chapter, maybe two depending on if I want to stretch out a few events. Either way, end is in sight for this story and the beginning of a few bigger happenings become foreshadowed with it. Which I'll post as long as y'all are willing to put up with my shitty writing. Self esteem issues to the side; Review responses!:**

**LurkingShadowWillow: Honestly had fun writing that scene, awkward as it was.**

** Tim's just a great character to introduce, I kinda like the idea of gradually hinting at the next generation of Titans and heroes. Just something that fills the comic nerd in me with joy. And on the lemon; I think I've come to a good plan for it and that's all I'll say.**

**SheWoldShaman: Thanks! Sorry it took a bit, though.**

**Cakeline: Thank you! Glad to see I've caused a bout of insomnia with this story. Been there, with a few stories actually. Cool to know I caused it actually. In a weird way.**

**charmedprincess101: Truth will set you free, so the saying goes. It's kinda sad that I have the order of Robins memorized actually, so don't feel too bad. The last line of the last chapter was actually one of the many stolen little gags from another thing that I saw that I could throw in. In this case, Futurama, the episode The Sting. Probably one of my favorite ending bits.**

**BartWLewis: Thanks, man. Yeah, there's a lot more going on too...**

**Papayaman: Updated! Thanks!**

**Let's see; Don't have a song for the next chapter yet, will do a mini update when I do. Hopefully won't take two months for the next chapter, goal is two weeks but we'll see what happens, life keeps throwing curveballs at me right now.**

**Until next time, thank you for reading, please review at your convenience, and as always, keep being awesome people!**


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